May I invite anyone interested in contributing to the following proposed panel to contact me please. Proposed Panel for aoir Conference 2006 Health Informatics for Older People This panel is designed to focus upon the convergence of digital technologies to facilitate health and social care practices for older people. In many parts of the world networked digital technologies are seen as an important means to both improve the delivery of clinical and educational services for older people and also to promote and enable independent care in the community and home setting. These could include electronic patient records (EPRs) designed to enable the sharing of information between practitioners and agencies; the use of interactive TV, Internet websites, help-lines to enable users to access information; electronic networks to provide easier on-line appointments booking; electronic messaging for reminders; the adoption of mobile technologies; and remote consultations and assessments through videoconferencing. Very often the key policy objectives informing the design and adoption of ICTs as they relate to the health and social care of older people include the following: § To both acknowledge the importance of older people (aged over 65) as major users of health and social services together with a recognition that existing health and social services are fragmented, provide poor services to older people and are unable to cope with the rising demands of this group; § To provide integrated services whereby health and social service professionals and organisations share user information; § To enable the independent care of older people, whenever possible, within their own homes and communities; § To provide a positive view of old age and include the service user and their carers in their assessment, diagnosis and care programmes; § To share appropriate and easy to use information with older people through a variety of communication means. Please contact me or better still send me an abstract of no more than 500 words if you are interested in joining us. Brian D. Loader Co-Director, Social Informatics Research Unit (SIRU), Deparment of Sociology, Wentworth College, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD Email bl506@york.ac.uk Tel: +44(0) 1904 432639 Fax: +44(0) 1904 433043