New horizons in the role of digital data in the healthcare of older people

Abstract

There are national and global moves to improve effective digital data design and application in healthcare. This New Horizons commentary describes the role of digital data in healthcare of the ageing population. We outline how health and social care professionals can engage in the proactive design of digital systems that appropriately serve people as they age, carers and the workforce that supports them.

Key Points Healthcare improvements have resulted in increased population longevity and hence multimorbidity.

Shared care records to improve communication and information continuity across care settings hold potential for older people.

Data structure and coding are key considerations.

A workforce with expertise in caring for older people with relevant knowledge and skills in digital healthcare is important.

Metadata

Authors/Creators:

Masoli, J.A.H. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3794-7065
Todd, O.
Burton, J.K.
Wolff, C.
Walesby, K.E.
Hewitt, J. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7924-1792
Conroy, S.
van Oppen, J. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2570-7112
Wilkinson, C. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0748-0150
Evans, R.
Anand, A. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6428-4554
Hollinghurst, J. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3556-2017
Bhanu, C. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3168-4172
Keevil, V.L.
Vardy, E.R.L.C.
Anand, A.
Burton, J.K.
Bhanu, C.
Butler, M.
Clegg, A.
Collins, J.T.
Conroy, S.
Dodds, R.
Evans, R.
Harrison, S.
Hewitt, J.
Hollinghurst, J.
Jones, D.
Keevil, V.L.
Masoli, J.
Mitchell, L.
van Oppen, J.
Osterdahl, M.
Quinn, T.
Todd, O.
Vardy, E.
Walesby, K.
Wilkinson, C.

© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com

Keywords:

data; digital; frailty; older people; workforce; Humans; Aged; Delivery of Health Care; Aging; Caregivers; Communication; Longevity

Dates: