january 2018
05
editorial. ICT at the service of health co-operatives Information and communication technologies have as a whole opened up a new stage in the health co-operative world all around the globe. The most advanced co-operatives have updated their relationship with their members by using new technologies. At its most recent assembly, the International Co-operative Alliance also began a debate as to the present and future transformation of the relationship between doctors and patients in digital environments. ICT provides tools at the service of health co-operatives.
Montserrat Caballé
Mobile phones and applications, emails and online forms, websites and platforms with their associated blogs, together with the constant traffic on social media, have opened a huge gateway to the promotion of one of the fundamental principles of the co-operative world: member involvement.
Trustee of the Espriu Foundation, Vice-President of SCIAS and Head of the Social Participation Department
In the pages of the monograph section on user participation through new digital tools, we present the latest developments on the websites and mobile applications of the ASISA and Assistència Groups. These are innovations that have been progressively incorporated over recent years with the aim of making all administrative procedures more straightforward and responsive, avoiding the need for members to phone up or visit offices, for processes that can now be dealt with in two or three clicks. Their design offers convenient accessibility, combined with the utmost guarantees as regards data security and privacy.
«The information technologies, have opened a huge gateway to the promotion of one of the fundamental principles of the co-operative world: member involvement.»
These applications will in the future allow for successive updates that will gradually develop the relationship between users and organisations, in accordance with the principle of joint management. They will also provide a responsive and in-depth understanding of the type of medical assistance available to users at any given time. The growing presence of ASISA, Assistència Sanitària and SCIAS within this digital environment will enhance the links with every type of initiative around the co-operative world and in the medical sphere, giving health co-operatives an increasingly significant voice in these fields. One of the values of the co-operative world has always been member involvement. Our system calls for doctors and users to play an active role in designing healthcare, through the co-operatives that go to make up the Espriu Foundation, while also giving the users of medicine an active part in defining the relationship between doctor and patient, and the hospital environment. An aspect that is clearly illustrated by the evolution of SCIAS and its Social Participation Department.
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