Page 18 - Doing Data Together by The Scotsman

DOINGDATATOGETHER
Designing a
revolution in
elderly care
Combining different data sets is key to the Advanced Care Research Centre and its aim to deliver a modern, personalised care system, writes David Lee
Arevolution in later life care. A transformation- al change. Re-imagining how elderly care is deliv- ered in the 21st century.
However it is described, the £20 million Advanced Care Research Centre (ACRC) has enormous ambi- tion – and data is vital to its mission.
Covid-19 has accelerated the sev- en-year partnership between the University of Edinburgh and Legal & General, with researchers from across the university ready to start work next month on a range of chal- lenges designed to eventually help deliver root-and-branch change to the care system.
As Nigel Wilson, chief executive of Legal & General, puts it: “It is time to move from planning to doing.”
The project had been 18 months in the planning phase before it was formally announced in January. Further preparation work was planned, but events intervened.
John Godfrey, corporate affairs director for Legal & Genera, says: “Covid-19 came along and we thought we’d better get on with it. What was an important topic has taken on much more urgency – we can all see the care sector needs reform.”
Professor Jonathan Seckl, Vice-
Active stakeholder engagement to co-create research and translation into policy and practice
the creation of an academy to devel- op future care leaders and thinkers, and improving the quality of data. This could be summarised as nation- al conversation, next generation and better information.
Beyond this are four linked and complementary programmes of research and development:
I Understanding the person in context
I Data-driven insight and prediction I New technologies of care
I New models of care
Professor Heather Wilkinson, who has almost 25 years’ experience in elderly care and dementia research, is deputy director of the academy and leads the “person in context” workstream.
She says: “While the quantita- tive data, the numbers, are crucial to this project, so is the qualitative data – the stories, if you like; what the care worker picks up, what a dementia patient says. Human data is absolutely crucial and we need to put equal value on that kind of data, because the person is at the centre of everything the ACRC is doing.”
The project recognises the value of anecdotal data to help build a full pic- ture of an individual and shape their care appropriately. However, there
Understanding the person in context
Data-driven insights and prediction
New models of care
New technologies of care
The person in later life is at the heart of everything we do
ATHOME
EXTRA CARE HOUSING
RESIDENTIAL CARE HOMES
World-leading inter-disciplinary and cross-sectoral research
Translation into health and social care policy and practice New companies, products and services
Informing the wider societal response to the challenges of population aging
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The Academy for Leadership and Training
Educating and training the leaders of the future through a uniquely interdisciplinary doctoral training programme
Enhancing the data infrastructure in later life
Systematically exploiting and enhancing existing data, and developing new data resources
Principal of the University of Edin- burgh, agrees. He says: “This atro- cious pandemic came sweeping in and revealed real problems and inconsistencies in this Cinderella sector.
“This centre is an opportunity to transform how we deliver care, including how we use data, artificial
intelligence and robotics to improve the environment for people in their own home or those moving into sup- ported accommodation.”
Data and data innovation is the beating heart of the ACRC’s seven “work packages”.
Three cover big themes: public debate and stakeholder engagement;