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# Introduction

In this free course on digital technologies and innovations in health and social care you will explore the types of innovations that are available and the impact this has on the individuals using them. This will provide you with insight into the potential advantages and disadvantages involved.

Technology has fundamentally changed the way we live. The internet has opened up new ways in which we can gain access to information and services. As recently as the late 1990s, certain information and services were only available during office hours. Now, we can access that same information any time, day or night, without leaving our homes. This has also changed the way we shop, pay bills, the way the way we travel, and also the way we communicate (Digital Health and Care Scotland, 2018). The internet has also provided us with more choice and control. Advances in technology including mobiles, smartphones and robotics are just a few examples that can change how we manage our health and interact with the health service.

As you can see, digital technology and innovations have the potential to change not only how we manage our health but also the way health and social care is delivered by a workforce who will need to be more technologically skilled than ever before.

While there has been significant development in innovations to improve health and wellbeing, there is a long history of human endeavour to innovate to improve lives.

This is the focus of the next section which explores the evolution of innovation in health and social care in relation to prosthetics to improve the lives of amputees.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course K102 Introducing health and social care.

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OpenLearn - Innovation in health and social care: social and historical
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