On the face of it in these tight financial times it’s an odd move for Cambridge Community Services NHS Trust to plan to spend up to £50,000 on an evaluation of its telecare and telehealth service, especially when it is considered to be a competent one that, in 2011, generated cost savings for social care of £595,049 to £661,165 and £15,089 to £16,765 per patient in NHS costs. But the documents announcing the tender (here and here (PDFs)) makes clear the reason for the study: despite their efforts over the years there is resistance amongst local practitioners to make greater use of it and the service perceives that only LOCAL cost-effectiveness data will bring about a change of attitudes.

They have looked at the shortcomings of the Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) programme structure as revealed by its subsequent analysis and are aiming to improve on that. TA’s favourite statistician gives the thumbs up that the proposed analytical methods are appropriate and – notwithstanding the decision to refer to telecare provision as telehealth – we think it is a good and brave move to invest in this evaluation…and a nice chunk of consultancy work for someone, even if the available funding is going to be tight to do it well.

The closing date for expressions of interest is Friday next week, 22nd February. As we are as keen to see the results as they are, let’s hope the 20-month timetable holds.

“Thanks to clever integrated technology, there’s no need for further investment in additional equipment if or when the user needs to upgrade. This is a major cost benefit” says David Hammond, General Manager, Chubb Community Care in the press release (PDF). The unit features multiple emergency numbers and a ‘beep to talk’ pendant that allows the user to communicate with a monitoring centre even if unable to speak or hear. It is “easy to install and is compatible with all monitoring centre equipment. A touch keypad integrated into the rear of the unit allows for simple set up and function programming.” There are Braille button identifiers for vision-impaired users and CareUnity is available as a standard telecare unit and as a ‘Plus unit’ capable of monitoring up to 41 kinds of different radio alert. As care needs change, plug and play technology will make it quick and easy to add new types of alert devices.

eHealthInsider’s Lis Evenstad casts a jaundiced eye over the prospects for the 3ML target of 100,000 new users this year in an item Pathfinders losing their way. There is a strong signal in the item that the Pathfinder sites will now be regarded as being on target if they just get contracts in place. Given the reaction on Telecare Aware to the Worcestershire tender documents we hope that the quote from Chris Wright, the Department of Health’s programme manager for 3millionlives, that the Worcestershire tender for a managed service was “a step in the right direction” is just the official line and not what he really believes.

Oh, hang on, “a step in the right direction” can mean almost anything from ‘It’s really good’ to ‘It was a mess but it’s a start’. Yes, it’s a good phrase for an official line! As 2013 moves on it feels like the 3ML ground is getting softer and softer. Let’s hope it does not turn into quicksand. Ed Steve.

It’s good to see Scotland leading the way in the UK by installing videoconferencing health facilities in prisons and police custody suites. Public Services item.

Back in November 2011 Geonovo won the ‘Best Innovation 2011’ prize at the Telecare Services Association’s Crystal Awards ceremony at the conference for their RSP-100 Personal Safety Phone. [TA Nov 2011] Now they have announced the launch of Home Health Hub, a “groundbreaking [and futureproofed] telecommunications package specifically designed to ensure highly resilient connectivity for telecare users.” The Home Health Hub system includes:

• A low cost telecoms and telecare package with free broadband
• Telecare alarm phone and wireless router
• A network management system that constantly monitors the line and router
• A 6-hour service level agreement and engineer response

And it is available to partners/service providers. More information in the press release but you might also want to read TANN England Editor Chrys Meewella’s take on it.

We think it is about time the UK caught up with the US (see Telecare Corporation) for delivering mental health care over a distance and the NHS Confederation seems to agree. They published a discussion paper about e-mental mealthcare, as they call it, at the end of January. Best summary and links here. Heads-up thanks to Nicholas Robinson.

This is one to watch…in June last year we noted that UK start-up Med ePad was on the scene. It has an interactive 7-inch tablet that is loaned to patients and is linked to a variety of services and reminders to enhance the ability of healthcare professionals to deliver cost-effective care and to empower patients also. Having just received additional funding from the North West Fund for Digital and Creative (managed by AXM Venture Capital) – press release – Med ePad is expected to launch some new developments soon.

Readers may be interested to see an example of a website that has gone to great lengths to make itself as accessible as possible without compromising an eye for a workable design. It’s the Centre of Excellence for Sensory Impairment (COESI). The Croydon (UK) based Centre “develops and provides integrated direct services for people with sensory and physical impairments”. Heads-up thanks to Pam Bennett. If readers know of other good examples, please post links in the comments.

Frankly, the last thing I [editor Steve] want at 7.00am on a Friday when I’m about to prepare the day’s alerts email (sign-up box above), is to receive documents that demand to be read and for an item to be written. But ‘thanks’ to a reader that is what I’m now doing. I therefore apologise that the alerts email is late this morning.

Late last Wednesday night I published a link to the 3millionlives (3ML) website which had published a document by Worcestershire County Council, prepared in October 2012, that set out its ‘business case’ for tendering its telecare and telehealth service as a 3ML Pathfinder Site. Yesterday it attracted nine highly critical comments from four TA readers. If you have not done so yet, read the item and the comments, now running onto two pages.

The two documents the aforementioned reader sent me are Worcestershire’s follow-on documents that are part of the formal pre-tendering process: the Prospectus (PDF) and the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) (Word Document). The latter is for return by the end of February if you are interested in bidding.

So what, on the basis of early morning skim-reading, has compelled me to write this item? (more…)