Care Architects in an Era of Care Ecology

Not everyone is an Architect. And yet we are all architects at certain times when a proposal with its accompanying design, construction and commissioning challenges comes along. The difference is formality (the law) and scale: ultimately we the 'architect' may defer to the professional.

Similarly, we are not all Doctors, Nurses, Social Worker, or Occupational Therapists... although we may have played these roles in imagination and in taking on day-to-day diagnosis and problem solving: Do I(we) need to consult? Like a bandage there is a twist here -

You see, we are all Care Architects.

The duty of care is quite an extensive concept. The call to reach for the T-square and drawing desk will hopefully be infrequent, rare even, when we do the starting point is the problem at hand, whether that hand is injured, tonsils are swollen, belly aches or our mood is low.

There are set points in our lives where personal administration is a necessity. The tax return, dental checks, the renewal of insurance policies, eye-sight check-up. It is nice when these things look after themselves, these days we even have e-prompts to jog us into action.

Looking at Care Architecture as a whole - as a Care Ecology - this ecology has another starting point; one to which the individual / patient does not usually have ready access. The medical record. If this is not our starting point, it is for the health and social care workers (although there are many constraints that operate for these Care Architects). More and more is being expected of us as individuals and members of groups - be that as 'patients' or 'citizens'. A primary example is Health Space:

HealthSpace is a secure online personal health organiser. Anyone over the age of 16 and living in England can open a HealthSpace account.

HealthSpace is an initiative that is designed to acknowledge how we are all Care Architects at heart and part of a much wider care ecology.

As of Feb 2008 - once subscribed and depending on geography HealthSpace may provide the account holder with access to their Summary Care Record.

It would be very interesting to see the (h2cm) profiles of HealthSpace subscribers thus far. There's a marvellous MSc. - Ph.d dissertation there for someone. People with long term medical conditions or extended acute episodes may recognise the benefits of being actively engaged in contributing - writing to and viewing - their (own) medical record.

This engagement must be
a vital perspective
not a vanishing
point
.

What about the rest of us? How can we get over the personal admin-hump?

How can people be engaged in their health record? Health is the operative word here.