Digitisation and Inequality – Challenges and Levellers in the Care Context

Description

Invited speech given at the 2022 retreat of VOCAL Edinburgh, which is part of a network of organisations devoted to providing support and advocacy for unpaid carers in Scotland. Dr Claudia Pagliari discussed some of the opportunities and challenges digitisation offers for addressing inequalities amongst the givers and recipients of care in the community, including insights gained through the COVID-19 pandemic around data gaps and digital workarounds. She emphasised the need to address existing uncertainties about value, evidence and privacy when considering the introduction of digital and data-driven innovations. She also reflected on some of the challenges Scotland may face when trying to introduce its proposed National Care Service, given the private and rising offshore corporate ownership of care homes and the importance of recognising the intersection with digital developments. The event also provided opportunities to discuss related issues around the status of third sector organisations in Europe, how Scotland has taken extra steps to ensure that carers are seen as key players in decision making and some of the barriers to realising this in practice. Dr Pagliari is also interested in workforce informatics and gender equity and the event provided a chance to discuss the dominance of women in the unpaid labour force and consider how digital approaches might help to alleviate some of the inequalities this presents.

Period	12 May 2022
Event title	VOCAL Digital Retreat 2022: Connected & Empowered: working with carers in the digital age
Event type	Conference
Location	Edinburgh, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	Regional