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Sue Ryder Care maximises the use of technology in the care of its residents

14 November 2008

Sue Ryder Care is putting to good use IT equipment and software thanks to a grant from The Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust.

The BBC has recently published an article about the importance for health services to be more innovative in the use of everyday technology. At Sue Ryder Care, innovation is at the heart of enabling the charity to deliver expert and compassionate care for people living with complex conditions including Multiple Sclerosis, Huntington’s disease, stroke and cancer.

Sue Ryder Care enables people to get the best from their lives by putting back what complex neurological and life limiting conditions take away. With the course of time, many of those conditions affect their mobility and their ability to communicate verbally.
 
A computer and laptop, a set of keyboards, as well as plasma and touch screens and a digital movie camera, were installed at the neurological care centre, Sue Ryder Care - Cuerden Hall in Preston, as part of the £250 000 Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust grant, which has been shared by several of the charity’s care centres across the UK.  Features such as head pointing devices, a height adjustable desk and special keyboards make it easier for some residents to communicate.

Gill’s story

Gill Gerrard has been living at Sue Ryder Care - Cuerden Hall for 10 years. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at the age of 38.

Gill, a mother of three, carried on living with her family and continued in her profession as a teacher as long as she could after diagnosis before she began to need a greater level of care. As her illness progressed she was gradually obliged to give up a job that she loved and she found it more difficult to cope with family and friends. In time she shut herself away and lived an almost reclusive life, confined to a wheel chair.

Gill had different carers visiting her at home to help her and support her family, but eventually decided she needed a greater level of care. It took several months for her to settle at Sue Ryder Care - Cuerden Hall but the specialist level of ‘care that liberates lives’ at the centre enabled her to rebuild her trust and confidence again. Eventually she was even able to work as a volunteer in a school.

When Gill was told that her son had to move to Abu Dhabi for work, she was really worried that keeping in touch with him and her grandchildren would have been almost impossible.

“My son recently moved to Abu Dhabi with his young family. It was difficult at first to think of him and my grandchildren being so far away. However, using the Jules Thorn IT equipment I am able to speak to them most days over the internet and even get to see them using a webcam”, Gill said.

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