Telecare Aware

Aberdeenshire’s telecare Christmas cracker

Steve Hards — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:01:03 +0000

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.

Telehealth in Hackney (UK)

Steve Hards — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:43:46 +0000

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 href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=KRVfVAWg5Bg">http://youtube.com/watch?v=KRVfVAWg5Bg</a>

Telecare proves a life saver

Steve Hards — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:41:37 +0000

Telecare gas detector saves a woman’s life while she sleeps. Press release from Lincolnshire County Council (UK).

Telecare Crisis and Caring Line

Steve Hards — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:40:01 +0000

Just flagging up this story in the terminology category, although as the ‘Telecare Crisis Line‘ began in 1989, it has a prior claim to the term.

Drat! I was going to set up a ‘telecare crisis line’ for telecare services running into problems.

Welsh council to cut staff costs

Steve Hards — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:39:02 +0000

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.

Just what part of biomedical informatics research don’t you understand?

Steve Hards — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:37:43 +0000

In this blog item the author rants most engagingly that many healthcare organisations are rushing into technological areas that they do not understand. He is responding (approvingly) to a recent US Joint Commission’s Sentinel Events Alert on HIT that challenges the dominant paradigm of health IT as an easy-to-accomplish panacea.

He raises thought-provoking matters that apply equally to the introduction of telehealth as any other healthcare technology. Read it here.

Open source calls the tune for phones

Steve Hards — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:34:42 +0000

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…

CommonWell project in four European countries

Steve Hards — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:33:00 +0000

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.

Health technology in Norfolk care homes (UK)

Steve Hards — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:30:30 +0000

“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.

Patient keeps hospital appointment over the internet for first time in Wales

Steve Hards — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:29:21 +0000

It seems hard to believe this really is a first in Wales, but it’s a nice little article anyway. From WalesOnline.