Just in this morning, a press release from Aberdeenshire Council announcing the publication of the evaluation of their 18 month telecare project. It’s a cracker, in every sense of the word*.
The headline news is excellent: Out of 51 people referred to the project, 34 people benefited from an increase in their independence at home, 8 people managed to stay at home instead of entering into a care home, and in 6 cases an unplanned hospital admission was prevented.
No corny jokes, just some great gifts pop out when you download the 64 page report.
I have only had time yet to skim-read through it but I can see that the report contains information that should shake things up on the UK telecare scene. Telecare Aware readers will find their own significant elements, but of particular interest to me were comments about suppliers, their delivery times and relationship to end users, and observations on the NHS PASA National Framework Agreement.
Thank you, Aberdeenshire, and the researchers at the Robert Gordon University, for such a readable, informative and potentially explosive report! Press release: Benefits of homecare technology highlighted in report.
* Ok, ok, for non-Commonwealth readers who don’t get the Christmas cracker reference, see here.
This is the simplest, clearest explanation I have seen of how remote patient health monitoring is managed in the NHS, what patients do, and its benefits. The 3.21 minute video on YouTube does not hide its Docobo origin, but that fact is not ‘in-your-face’.
A local authority says it needs to reduce staffing costs by 10% – with some of its 4,500 workforce to be offered voluntary redundancy. Denbighshire council is consulting on plans to save an estimated £5.7m over the next two financial years. Sign-of-the-times-item with interesting implications. BBC news report.
I missed this when it was published back in July, but it may be a fitting end-of-the-year item to mark the rise of what may be the next trend in telehealth monitoring technology, as briefly touched on in Telecare Aware a few times this year – the move to using the mobile phone as the ‘platform’ of choice for most people. This article, Open source calls the tune for phones, from the Guardian’s technology writer Victor Keegan draws out the potential of the mobile phone, starting with a mention of the 3G Doctor service, which is how I came across it. But it is more, much more…
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.
“Telehealth…is used as an ‘early warning system’, with the aim of quicker medical intervention and reduced hospital admissions…Woodside House Care Home in Norwich…is one of the first nursing homes to use the system in the county. It has been successfully tried with 26 residents, and will now be extended to 56 more as well as those in its specialised community for people with dementia”. A short item from the Eastern Daily Press but the taking on of this development by a private care home in the UK is a significant step.
Cambridgeshire-based Hidalgo Ltd has announced that its Equivital system (which already has US FDA (510k) registration) has met CE marking requirements. This will open up possibilities for it in EU countries. Press release.
An article just published on the UK’s Health Investor site is essential reading for anyone outside the UK who wants to start understanding what is going on. It also has food for thought for the rest of us. It begins:
The government sank £80 million in helping local authorities adopt preventative technology, and new consumer-led ways of buying services represent an unprecedented opportunity for growth in the sector. So why is the industry still struggling?
The British Standards Institute is currently inviting public comments on the draft of BS 8484, a standard for the management of lone worker protection services. The draft standard covers the provision of services using electronic monitoring and alarm techniques.
Although lone worker protection is not currently perceived as telecare, it could be argued that it is. In any case, many telecare and telehealth services are potential users of lone worker protection services for their own staff and some also provide these services for in-house and external staff. Here is an opportunity to shape the development of the relevant British Standard.
For the second year now the NHS is underspending… so PCTs and NHS Trusts should have some money to invest in remote health monitoring to reduce future costs… Item from Healthcare Republic.
Devon County Council and the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust (SWAST) has launched a dedicated service to respond to community alarm calls. Historically, SWAST’s clinicians have been called to non-medical situations where an elderly person may have fallen but fortunately not sustained an injury. Consequently, any attending resources – clinicians, vehicles and equipment – which were allocated to these calls were prevented from attending life threatening emergencies. Many people are also reluctant to contact the ambulance service for incidents that do not appear to them to be an emergency, and have put themselves at risk by not calling for assistance. The new partnership provides a 24-hour service specifically for non-injured clients and those with other identified health and social care needs. News report.
Croydon has been using the Combined Predictive Model in its virtual wards project (see Telecare Aware item) whereby people identified by the model as having a very high risk of future hospitalisation are put on a ‘virtual ward’. They are provided with preventive care in their own homes by a multi-disciplinary team who use the systems, timetable and staffing of a hospital ward but without the physical building.
Admission to the virtual ward is determined solely by the output of the Combined Predictive Model. Patients’ risk scores are monitored over time and can be used to prompt the virtual ward staff to discharge patients when appropriate – and offer admission to a patient at higher risk.
Item from the Kings Fund site where you can download a Croydon case study.
