![]() Now, more than ever before, the need for technology-mediated contact with, and supervision of, older users is understood and seen not just as a way of replacing moments of in-person contact, but, above all, as having benefit due to its predictive value. ![]() The recent crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating changes in care processes. Also important is the potential role of information technologies in building forecasting models, based on early signs of changes in the person, that can predict how these will develop and trigger rapid clinical decision-making that can prevent risks or adverse events likely to lead to deterioration in older people’s health. Within this perspective, a central feature of service innovations is the opportunity, in collaboration with care provider organisations, to improve the parameters and timely use of health data, avoiding unnecessary transitions between services and making information immediately and simultaneously accessible to health professionals and family members. Many European Commission initiatives and projects 2 that tackle this phenomenon focus on the role of public authorities, both as being responsible for organising social and health services, and as promoters of service innovations and new technological solutions capable of transforming older people’s use of services. These should include ensuring that care providers can implement initiatives to educate citizens to approach their own ageing differently and, increasingly, to adopt behaviours and lifestyles that generate health over time. ![]() ![]() The growth in the projected population of older people implies the need to analyse and consider main lines of action that can be pursued now to adapt the world of social and health services to the expected rise in demand. Population projections show that by 2100, the old-age dependency ratio 1 will almost double (57 per cent) that of 2019 (31 per cent), meaning that for each older person aged 65 and over, there will be fewer than two people of working age ( Eurostat, 2020). In the future that awaits us, we will need solutions that can cope with the expected increase in demand for care and protection as countries struggle to sustain their national welfare systems. Older people’s needs and technology: how can we match them? ![]()
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