Health chiefs have launched a £75,000 project to send encouraging texts to alcoholics on special mobile phones.Wha..?
Detox patients will receive automated daily SMS messages to check they're staying sober.Oh, for the love of…
They'll text back to say they're doing OK - or need help.
Debra Malone, consultant in public health at NHS Bolton, said: 'The best way to make sure service users successfully adjust to a life without alcohol is to provide them with ongoing support during this difficult period of adjustment.’It’s not going to stop with alcohol, is it?
If the scheme works, the technology could be used to help people with a range of conditions.Told you…
It’s the dependency of types like Ms Malone on public sector jobs that really needs reducing.
7 comments:
So long as they do exactly the same for elderly people who live alone .. just to make sure they're still actually alive ..
But I can't see that happening ..
No "Feathers in caps" or "Brownie points" there ..
No "victim" culture to play on, you see ..
They'll text back to say they're doing OK
and it's a well known fact that drunks never lie.
KenS beat me to it. One of the biggest problems with alcoholics is that they are incorrigible liars. Even when caught out, they will flat deny they've been drinking.
Given my sketchy texting skills - fortunately family and friends have become skilled amateur cryptographers - I can't imagine anyone being able to assess sobriety purely on the coherence of a texted response.
It's yet another step towards the day that public health officials can dispense forever with the messily corporeal aspects of the job and shunt it all off into cyberspace.
More insane outreach bullshit. How many front line jobs and closed wards is this going to cost?
I can't imagine anyone being able to assess sobriety purely on the coherence of a texted response.
The clever ones will have previously typed, 'I am still sober' and 'I haven't had a drink all day' or 'Have you got a corkscrew?'into the text templates.
"So long as they do exactly the same for elderly people who live alone .. just to make sure they're still actually alive .."
Like you, I can't see that happening either.
"KenS beat me to it. One of the biggest problems with alcoholics is that they are incorrigible liars. "
Indeed! And as Blueknight points out, so long as they are capable of retrieving a previously-composed text from 'drafts', they'll be golden!
"It's yet another step towards the day that public health officials can dispense forever with the messily corporeal aspects of the job and shunt it all off into cyberspace."
So much tidier, none of that awful public to face...
"More insane outreach bullshit."
It never ends.
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