In the Digital Age anyone can be an innovator in social care and health #PDDAwards15
Published on mediablends.com May 12 2015
Summary: An award scheme for digital innovation in social care and health confirms it is DIY time.
It may be just another straw in the wind, but news of a small award scheme for People Driven Digital unAwards strengthens my hunch that people as clients and customers are the really important force for innovation in Living Well in the Digital Age. In addition you can just Do It Yourself in digital.
Certainly the “ageing” industry (with a few exceptions) is generally not fertile ground for digital innovation. On the one hand the Centre for Ageing Better has no mention of tech in its strategy. On the other hand Silicon valley is investing in tech-assisted care
People are adopting smartphones and tablets, commercial developers are flooding the market with apps, and you can check out what may be useful for you in the NHS Choices health apps library.
The new awards scheme is deliberately modest - making the point that in the digital age anyone can be an innovator.
Lasa are pleased to announce support of [a new award](http://mhealthhabitat.co.uk/pddawards15/) from the [mHabitat](http://mhealthhabitat.co.uk/) project aimed at recognising good uses of technology in social care and health that have been developed and are driven by individuals and small grassroots organisations.
>Patients and smaller organisations are innovating faster and cheaper than the NHS or larger Social Care structures. There's lots of simple digital technology being used to make acute and chronic health problems easier to live with. Yet there is no process to find and develop the best of these technologies.
>A unique partnership of patients and health professionals is launching a new awards scheme to unearth the technologies being created across the UK from Cornwall to Scotland. The organisers are calling for digital innovations that are improving people’s health and well-being and encouraging the public - and especially patients, carers and healthcare professionals - to make nominations. The organisers will champion the best ideas and products and bring them wider attention.
>Don't worry that you haven't developed a new app or program. Your organisation may simply be using existing technology like Google Docs for efficiency or Tablet Devices to help with spark memories or even social networks like Facebook to create innovative and really useful social care support communities.
>One of the founders of the unAwards, Victoria Betton, mHealth Programme Director at Leeds & York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, says: “We have come across the most amazing products, apps and digitally based services, created by ordinary people. We want to unearth more of these technologies, encourage others to develop their ideas and help the NHS to find and use these products.”