Take me by the hand

We've heard this from older people and people in care.

A lot of people value health and social care practitioners for not only medical care but also human connection. They might resist data-enabled technologies, fearing that they will replace the human connections they already have. They value familiarity and require personal guidance on sharing and benefiting from data.

People with this data relationship said

• We just want to feel cared for and listened to by another person. We want healthcare with a human touch.

• We worry that data-enabled healthcare will replace, rather than enhance, face to face interactions.

• We should be able to opt out of data sharing without getting worse quality care.

• Having someone take the time to talk to us face-to-face about data sharing is really reassuring and helps us to trust the system.

So what can we do?

Services for people with this data relationship might support data collection with targeted social interventions and invest in face to face approaches to ensure everybody is brought along. Services might be designed to enhance networks and communities, while multiple systems might co-exist while people transition, rather than replacing one system immediately with another. Face to face dialogue should be encouraged, as an effective way to reassure and convince people to opt in to data sharing.