Caring for the Carers

Description

The rapid development and adoption of technological care equipment for remote monitoring, self-diagnosis and other forms of telemedicine risks splitting care work: on the one hand, well-paid professionals developing or operating new technologies; on the other, much poorer and much less qualified assistants to take care of the operations that are not easily automatable, such as dressing, lifting or washing patients. We note a tendency to avoid tackling the thorny questions connected with care work head on, including the central issue of its remuneration. Through two examples, the self-managed nursing organization Buurtzorg and Frank's Hospital Workshop website for repairers, we described two ways care labour could be beneficially reorganised in the postdigital era. (Versione Italiano inclusa)