The Role of Technology in Addressing Health and Social Care Needs and Opportunities in a Rural Environment

Abstract

People who live in rural areas do not have access to the health and personal care services that are available to the rest of the population. Some of their needs can be addressed using technology enabled services. The purpose of this paper is to describe the infrastructure requirements for successful implementation of technology enabled health and support services, and to consider the opportunities for using technology to satisfy the needs of people at each level of the Maslow Hierarchy. This involves the development of a more technology-related pyramid and a consideration of the requirements for a range of application examples for each level. It was found that applications relevant to physical and safety domains are mature, available and easy to implement. However, higher levels of need require people to have broadband or fast mobile access, as well as their own mobile computing devices such as a tablet or smartphone. These allow the use of apps that provide powerful ways of addressing needs. It is suggested that few existing technology services providers can offer a spectrum of applications that would be required by most end-users but that innovators will develop service delivery partnerships and utilize more generic support workers. Some pump priming may be necessary to ensure that service providers offer the required level of investment in training and equipment.