What does new power mean for the NHS?
What do shifting societal trends towards a sharing economy mean for the NHS? Understanding New Power (Heimans & Timms, December 2014) sets out a framework to conceptualise shifts in power which are enabled by digital technologies in contemporary society: Old power works like a currency. It is held by few. Once gained, it is jealously guarded, and the powerful have a substantial store of it to spend. It is closed, inaccessible, and leader-driven. It downloads, and it captures. New power operates differently, like a current. It is made by many. It is open, participatory, and peer-driven. It uploads, and it distributes. Like water or electricity, it’s most forceful when it surges. The goal with new power is not to hoard it but to channel it. The authors conceptualise a participation scale from consumption to co-owning, from old power models exemplified by Britannica to new power models such as Wikipedia. You can find out more about their framework in a fascinating Ted Talk given by Heiman here: Despite this being a contemporary framework, informed and enabled by digital technologies, it resonates with Shirley Arnstein’s Ladder of Participation which was published all the way back in 1969 and remains common currency in the field of NHS patient participation. Arnstein conceptualised an eight rung ladder of participation in decision making from manipulation and tokenism at the bottom to citizen control at the top. Heiman and Timm’s framework is like Arstein’s ladder, with the rocket fuel of technology as an enabler of new power possibilities for those of us who have access to the digital tools and literacy to take advantage of them. ...
How does people-driven digital square up to NHS-led digital? #PdDigital15
How does people-driven digital square up to NHS-led digital? This was a question considered by Paul Hodgkin in his final Power to the People column for E-Health Insider. You can find the full article here and below are a few snippets that illuminate some of the themes we are likely to be considering at #PdDigital15. Citizen outspend the NHS on digital We spend a lot less in the NHS on digital technology that we do as citizens: So what have I learned? One signature theme is that NHS IT years are the reverse of dog years – if each human year is equal to seven dog’s years then the stuff that happens in the world of NHS IT is about 1/7th of that achieved by the citizenry. Just look at how much the NHS spends on IT kit compared with the citizenry. During the Connecting for Health campaign, the NHS spent around £1 billion per year on IT. Meanwhile, the people – that’s you and me and pretty much everyone else – was spending a minimum of £400 per household per year on phones, broadband, tablets and PCs. With 25 million households that works out at a cool £100 billion over the same decade. NHS £1: Citizens £10. Citizens doing it for ourselves Whilst the NHS is wrestling with huge barriers and challenges to digital technologies, citizens are doing it all anyway: Information governance, systems that don’t talk to each other, cultures that clash, organisations that compete when they should collaborate – all these are the very stuff of high transaction costs; which is just a...about.me
Victoria Betton
victoria betton
director mHabitat | NHS | social media & mental health doctorate | interested in digital inclusion | parma violets fiend | http://codesigndigitalhealth.co.uk
