The CommonWell project will support independent living and improve the quality of life for a total of 400 older people and people with long-term conditions in four locations in Europe.

However, when you read the press release, remember that the impression that this is an EU-inspired project is not all it seems. The part-EU funding comes from the EU’s Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme. This is actually a fund to which companies can apply for projects that support the EU’s Enterprise Policy aim of increasing the competitiveness of European-based companies. In this case, the company is Tunstall.

The use of computers to keep aging brains alert is a new project at IBM-Israel, which has announced a collaboration with European Union partners. The three-year HERMES Cognitive Care for Active Aging project will be based on audio and visual processing and reasoning. A combination of home-based and mobile device-based systems are planned to help older people combat the natural reduction in cognitive capabilities; special focus will be put on developing a comfortable interface for older people with little or no computer experience. More interesting details in this item from the Jerusalem post.

Tangentially-related to telecare: there are a number of companies producing these kinds of in-sea tracking devices, but the author of this gCaptain blog item is clearly impressed with a new product from Mobilarm.

It’s interesting when two stories come in at the same time, unrelated except that they are tapping into the zeitgeist. Here is an example of this phenomenon. The first item is about the use of mobile phones in telehealth around the world and, if you think it is a bit ‘far out’ still, read the second item – Nokia planning to get into the ’smart home’ arena, including health monitoring.

1. Lives of a cell

2. Nokia develops a smart home platform to offer consumers new ways to control their homes with a mobile device

And, in a slightly difference vein, this story, just in:

Text message surgery saves Congolese boy

A quick reminder that if you wish to present at next April’s Med-e-Tel conference the deadline for papers is 20th December. Submission details here.

There is something significant in this rather pedestrian press release. It’s the admission that, despite all their publicity and marketing efforts, it has taken Medical Intelligence (Columba bracelet, Vega GPS bracelet, etc.) until now to achieve its first significant revenues from the sale of its monitoring solutions. That’s three year’s hard, hard work to get the ball rolling for a company with alliances with some big-playing companies, and in a market where, in theory, entry should be like pushing on an open door. It just shows how difficult it is.

The Hungarian Government and GE Healthcare, part of the General Electric Company announced today a major new research programme to transform the care of older citizens. A consortium of private and public sector organisations has secured HUF 895 million (US $4.2 million, GBP £2.8 million) from the Hungarian government to research and develop new ways of monitoring the health of elderly citizens in their own homes. GE Healthcare will invest an additional HUF 238 million (US $1.1 million, GBP £0.75 million) in the programme.

The three year programme will “bring together the expertise of healthcare companies with leading academic institutions. The consortium will develop integrated systems and processes for the remote monitoring of the health of elderly citizens, particularly those who suffer from neurological diseases such as stroke, dementia and depression…”

The consortium is led by GE Healthcare and includes Hungarian healthcare industry members Mednet 2000 and Meditech, the University of Pannonia at Veszprem, the University of Szeged and the Budapest Tech Polytechnical Institution. The consortium will employ 71 researchers and associates, and will create 23 new jobs in Hungary.

Download the full press release here.

To put this into a wider context, the Commission of the European Communities’ November 2008 communication on ehealth strongly urged member states to investigate the potential benefits of, and accelerate the use of, home health monitoring – especially in the management of older people’s chronic diseases. Hungary has pressing reasons to do so. According to the US Census Bureau, the Hungarian population is in decline: in 2000 the total population was 10.1 million. In 2050 it is predicted to be 8.4 million. However, the proportion of citizens 65+ years is predicted to increase from 15% of the total population in 2000 to around 30% in 2050. Further, according to WHO and consortium members’ own data:

• 600,000 of the 60+ years population live alone
• There are 30,000 – 35,000 new stroke cases per year in Hungary
• Approximately 100,000 people in Hungary have some form of dementia
• Serious depression is a major problem for Hungary, with the incidence of depression highest in people over 60

In May this year, GE bought a substantial minority stake in telecare provider QuietCare.

Interesting post (including video – Dutch commentary) about the use of the Bosch/Health Hero Health Buddy in the Netherlands. Bear in mind that the blog is that of Steve Brown, founder of the Health Hero Network but now on the board of directors of Agile Sports Technologies and BillionLights Foundation.

Headline Sananet results are:

• 30% reduction in hospitalization for heart failure patients in a telemedicine study from the University of Maastricht
• Reduction in length of hospital stay for COPD patients from 13 days to 9 days on average in a telemedicine study from the University of Utrecht
• In diabetes patients with an HbA1c of 8% or higher, a reduction in HbA1c of 1.5% compared to 0.6% in the control group in a study in Almere

Actually, his ‘About’ page is as interesting as the blog post.

Actually, for long-time Telecare Aware readers, the main story in this item will not be the robots, but the ‘Assistive Independent Systems’ in development by Tasmanian clinical psychologist Brad Freeman who is aiming to “use new internet-based communications technologies to empower family friends and carers to support aged people in their own home”. You will hear more of this later, I suspect. Read the Canberra Times story here.

I suspect that unlike companies that hype up their ‘cutting edge’ credentials, New Zealand-based Chiptech really has some. Graeme Moore, Managing Director, makes the refreshing admission on their website: “Entering the Australian market has been a long process, but it has also made us aware of how innovative and leading edge our technology really is.”

People attending Medica 08 in Düsseldorf next week (19-21 November) will have a chance to see for themselves – Chiptech at Hall 17 Stand A58. The rest of us will have to do for now with this Chiptech conference media release and the information on their website.

Quick follow-up to story re Orange and Medic4all’s new service reported on 5 November, the Orange/Medic4all’s press release is now available here.

Earlier this month the EU Commission issued a document: Communication on telemedicine for the benefit of patients, healthcare systems and society. It’s not as dry as you might expect and covers:

• Definition of telemedicine
• Telemonitoring
• Making it happen (including, helpfully, a discussion of the need for legal clarity)
• Recommended actions for the next three years for member states and the Commission

Download it here. (Scroll down – the front page just says ‘EN’)

Thanks to Telecare Aware reader Tom Jones of Tanjent Consultancy for the heads up on this item.

Again two unrelated but complementary items popped up this morning. The first is an interview with Rod Young, the chief executive of the Aged Care Association of Australia about the problems of healthcare in Australia that will affect the ‘baby boom’ generation and the second is an article by Prof. Branko Celler, chief executive officer and chairman of TeleMedCare, the Australian telehealth company spun out of the University of New South Wales.

1. Healthcare restructure needed for Baby Boomers (World Today)

2. A solution ignored: telehealth (Science Alert Australia and New Zealand)

Medical Intelligence Technologies, Canadian producer of the Vega GPS Bracelet, Columba Bracelet, PERSmobile GPS Emergency System and Urgentys GPS Lone Worker systems has, following its recent link up with Tunstall in the UK, also announced a German deal with Bjorn Steiger Stiftung Service (BSSS). BSSS is a for-profit division of Bjorn Steiger Stiftung, a private foundation in Germany dedicated to diminishing the response time of emergency services in Germany. BSSS will distribute all Medical Intelligence’s devices and will offer the accompanying tele-security services. Initial deployment is expected in first quarter of 2009. Press release.

What is it with doctors who seem to want to make mechanical copies of themselves? A search for ‘robot’ in the above search box will throw up a few examples. Here’s another, from the University of Queensland’s Centre for Online Health.