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Celebrating Good Care Month
According to the King’s Fund, 1.59 million people work in the social care sector in the UK – that’s around the same number as work for the NHS – How many people work in social care in England? That’s dwarfed by the 5.8 million unpaid carers who clock up the equivalent of an estimated £162 billion in value every year – Unpaid care in England and Wales valued at £445 million per day.
Most of us will end up providing some level of unpaid care during our lifetimes, with women taking up most of the slack – like my wonderful ‘wicked’ stepmother, Lou – Facts about carers (last updated December 2024). It’s tough to stay healthy and happy while caring for a loved one, however willingly. One study in Scotland noting that 28% of caregivers report bad or very bad mental health, with over one-third of those who suffer from a mental health condition themselves saying they had thoughts relating to self-harm or suicide – Mental Health and Unpaid Caring.
Unpaid carers struggle to get the rest they desperately need to keep on track – Interventions to improve sleep in caregivers: A systematic review and meta-analysis. It’s a problem for healthcare professionals too: almost two-thirds say they don’t sleep well – Poor sleep is associated with work environment among 10,087 French healthcare workers: Results from a nationwide survey.
Could technology lighten the load?
It was a privilege to be selected to join the National Care Forum’s Care Innovation Challenge weekend in Coventry, along with over 30 brilliant people with ideas ranging from body-worn epilepsy cameras to AI-driven sleep monitoring and morning calls to dental gummies formulated for people who can’t brush their teeth – something I remember well. The packed weekend was facilitated by an inspiring team of mentors from across the sector, from care home providers to software platforms, legal experts, academics and service providers.
I was even more honoured to be selected as one of five finalists! Now it’s all hands on deck to prepare for the Care Show in Birmingham, working with Helen Glasspool, Liz Jones and the team. Watch this space! – CARE SHOW BIRMINGHAM.
Save the date – 16th of October at the Smart Buildings Show – from data-driven to human-centred buildings
I’m struck by the yawning chasm between the expectation of ‘smart’ infrastructure in office buildings compared to the average healthcare setting. These expensive state-of-the-art systems chattering away behind the scenes churn out reams of data and dynamic decision-support dashboards designed to help busy building managers optimise every aspect of human comfort and performance while reducing energy use.
And yet these ‘smart’ insights are too often unreliable or irrelevant, unseen or ignored, perhaps because the HR team, who have the biggest stake in optimising human performance, are rarely in the room when critical decisions are made.
This absence makes it hard for the ‘smart’ sector to make a solid business case for investing: it all looks great on paper, but the return on investment for the people who spend time in the space just isn’t there. That leads to commodity pricing. And missed opportunities to leave a legacy of innovative, inclusive and inspiring buildings worthy of our future selves.
So why isn’t HR at the digital table?
I’ll be asking Tomas MacEoin and one of his high-profile clients just that.
Save the date – 16th October – it should be a lively conversation!
Bees knees and EMFs
I’ve planted three pots of lavender by my front door.
Not only for the gentle movement of the scented heads in the breeze, but the invitation to pause as the bees barge around the plant, ignoring one floret to hug its neighbour like a long-lost friend.
What’s going on?
All the flowers look the same to me – but clearly not to the bees.
Bees use landmarks – like my bright blue front door – to locate sources of food – Influence of visual targets and landmarks on honey bee foraging and waggle dancing.
Then they use a combination of smell, visual and tactile cues to work out whether a flower is worth the effort – Bees use the taste of pollen to determine which flowers to visit.
We already know artificial light after dark is bad for bees, with a knock-on effect on food production, clean air and water – Exposure to constant artificial light alters honey bee sleep rhythms and disrupts sleep.
But those LED lights are causing another problem too.
It turns out that bees use fine hairs on their backs to generate and sense the weak electromagnetic fields generated by other pollinators’ waggle dances and sources of pollen – they are, literally, attracted to the most rewarding flowers – The bee, the flower, and the electric field: electric ecology and aerial electroreception.
The problem is that the electromagnetic fields generated by power lines – and by the electronics in LED’s plays havoc with that subtle signalling system, leading to fewer pollination visits which in turn reduces plant health – Electromagnetic fields disrupt the pollination service by honeybees.
Another reason to power down at night – and keep growing lavender!
Eye-catching fundraising
I’ve been clocking up the miles around town wearing my bright yellow Amnesty vest.
Once I’ve put it on, I forget I’m wearing it – until I see a smile and a nod – or a curious squint.
The t-shirt as branding billboard is as old as marketing itself – The influence of T-shirt graphics on perceptions and behavioral intentions.
If you want to get noticed, put big logos on everything, everywhere – wherever you can. It’s a chicken and egg thing- the more familiar the image, the more eye-catching it is – A study of the impact of brand logo familiarity on visual search: based on an eye-tracking experiment.
NGO logos have to work even harder than product or service brands to gain your loyalty – and your cash – because you may never experience their work first-hand. Most major charities choose a strong shape because it’s a powerful universal shortcut to express core values:
Circle logos signal solidarity and unity – International Red Cross, Unicef or Oxfam, and so many more.
Triangles are often chosen to suggest protection and connection – for example Shelter, Habitat for Humanity and Action Aid.
Squares suggest stability and safety – Samaritans, British Heart Foundation or the RSBP. Lots of charities – like Amnesty – put a block of a distinctive colour around a graphic element and the name so they can ‘own’ that space, building recognition and awareness even when your eyes can’t capture the detail – The Influence of Logo Shapes on Non Governmental Organization Branding: A Comprehensive Literature Review.
So paradoxically, the more slowly I get round the course next week, the better I will do for the cause.