For years, many providers of specialist accommodation for older people, social housing or people with other needs have been offering panic alarm/telecare services funded wholly or in part from the public purse, particularly through Supporting People funding, which has now been cut off. This has left the housing providers with practical, financial and ethical dilemmas as highlighted a month ago in the comments on this TTA item: Supporting People funding reductions – telecare panic. Now specialist housing consultancy Support Solutions reframes the question and re-imagines the solution: Funding Alarms & Proactive Communication Systems for Vulnerable People.
text4baby: positive study results (US)
Results from a year-long evaluation provide evidence that text4baby benefits users. text4baby is a free mobile health information service of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) that provides pregnant women and new mothers with health and safety information via text message. The content includes messages about immunization, nutrition, birth defect prevention, safe sleep, etc. A survey developed by researchers from the National Latino Research Center (NLRC) at California State University San Marcos and the University of California San Diego, with support from the Alliance Healthcare Foundation, was administered to 631 text4baby users in San Diego. Findings indicate that text4baby is increasing users’ health knowledge, facilitating interaction with health providers, reminding them of their appointments and immunizations, and improving access to health services. More information and link to the study results. Heads-up thanks to Bob Pyke.
Task And Finish Group recommendations (Northern Ireland)
The NI Task and Finish Group was established under the remit of the Connected Health and Prosperity Board, to aid the exploitation of opportunities from Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland. The work has implications for the developing telemonitoring industries and the Group’s final report is now available. TANN Ireland for more information.
Assisted technology: Roundtable discussion videos (UK)
Connecting Communities is a website/organisation in the UK to promote discussion of the concerns about introducing technology of all sorts, but predominantly so far, telehealth and telecare into everyday practice. It has light-touch sponsorship from Bosch Healthcare. The videos in the following link show snippets from a recent discussion held in Leeds that was chaired by David Brindle, Public Services Editor, The Guardian. If nothing else, the principal 11-minute video is worth watching. Connecting Communities/Communities for Life.
Boys win Lego award for medication reminder robot and app (Ireland)
It’s great to see young people working as an effective team in developing technology – although it is not clear from the article what the robot element does. However, isn’t it time that there was more recognition in the media that the issues around prompting and monitoring medication compliance are more complicated than just how to get the person to receive a reminder? Dublin boys win Lego award for robot reminding people to take medicines. The Journal.
Being online aged 90 has made my old age less lonely
An article in the UK’s Guardian newspaper should be essential reading for those younger people who write off the interest of older people in getting online, or the benefits it can bring in reducing social isolation. Browse the comments too. This editor especially liked the exchange on 17 May between Decadere “…Maybe I shouldn’t get so angry at my mum when I have to explain 5,000 times that sometimes she has to double click. Not always mother, just sometimes” and welovelucytoo’s response “@Decadere – you will get your comeuppance. When you get to be your mum’s age, your children will similarly be frustrated at your total inability to control your quantum computer with the simplest of thought patterns…” Being online aged 90 has made my old age less lonely. Others aren’t so lucky.
Health+Care 2013 event: free passes available (UK)
12-13 June, at Excel, London
Health+Care 2013 is a new ‘macro event’ which means there will be four co-located events – The Health+Care Integration Conference, The Home Care Show and The Residential Care Show based around the now well-established Commissioning Show. At the moment, ‘qualifying delegates’ will get complementary passes to the event, so register now if you (or, particularly commissioning colleagues) are interested in attending. Website for further information and registration.
Last Tuesday (14 May) the organisers held a pre-event telecare/telehealth exhibition in a show flat in East London owned by Circle, the parent company of Invicta Telecare, so there will be a significant remote monitoring and technology for independent living component to this event.
Dr Jamie Wilson demonstrates the Home Touch dashboard at the show flat
RSM event: Is mobile technology challenging conventional telemonitoring? (UK)
6 June, London
The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) has a one-day event on 6 June entitled Worlds in collision: Is mobile technology challenging conventional telemonitoring? in which eminent speakers will examine the case for mHealth sweeping aside proprietary protocol-driven monitoring technologies and greatly improving outcomes for users in the process. This will cover the impact of such things as adding a SIM card to an environmental sensor through to genuinely wearable technology and to cars that can inform emergency services of the state of their occupants following an accident. The previous event, on medical apps (report here), was a sellout. Details and booking here.
GSMA mHealth Grand (cycle) Tour – Europe
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/mhealth-cycle-tour-route-2013.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]The mHealth Grand Tour will be a cycle ride with a difference. Going from Brussels to Barcelona in 13 days (5 – 19 September 2013), it is a 2,100km tour with more than 22,000 meters of climbs. But it is also an opportunity to help demonstrate ways of managing diabetes using mHealth. The ride is “also intended to be fabulous experience, incorporating breathtaking scenery, quiet country roads and the opportunity to sample fabulous food and wine. And, in the spirit of the Grand Tours of old, we have also designed the ride to take in the outstanding cultural sights on the way.” The tour is open to individuals, and sponsoring organisations are putting together some cycling teams too. More information on the tour website.
Med-e-Tel 2013 presentations available
Copies of the presentations at Med-e-Tel 2013 (10-12 April 2013) are now available. Click on the ‘full presentation’ links to access the presentations. The Med-e-Tel Knowledge Resource Center also still contains the presentations from previous events (2002-2012). You can access the Resource Center here.
The Med-e-Tel 2013 proceedings, published as Global Telemedicine and eHealth Updates – Knowledge Resources, Vol. 6, 2013 (610 pages) are now also available for purchase. It contains 133 short papers of presentations that were submitted for the Med-e-Tel 2013 conference program. To order a copy contact info@medetel.eu.
Gloucestershire telehealth: PCT oversold; GPs undersold (UK)
A news item from the BBC (link below) takes the shine off the story of the Gloucestershire ‘big roll out’ of telehealth as it is generally presented (3ML PDF).
Dr Tim Macmorland, a GP in Churchdown, said the systems were ineffective. “I think it’s been handled poorly. It was rolled out to GPs without discussing anything about the system before it was implemented…We already knew it was working in the heart failure service, [see item here, paragraph 5. Ed.] but then we were asked to find patients who had these other chronic diseases for whom the system might work as well, and I don’t think it has to be honest, it’s been an absolute waste of money.”
For many years suppliers – and we – have been calling for an end to small scale pilots and for going straight for mainstream adoption. However, we may be seeing that in reality this is not possible, at least not with the approaches tried so far. Perhaps the ‘not invented here’ effect is stronger than we all supposed and telehealth adoption will only be achieved one doctor at a time.
BBC item: Gloucestershire health monitors investment a ‘waste of money’.
Simpalarm: A venture into within-family telecare has some nice features (UK)
Simpalarm is a new company bravely venturing into the UK telecare market. Accepting the premise that the ability to raise an alert through a press-button device and around-the-home sensors is what is required by many people, Simpalarm uses today’s technology to strip the system back to bare bones. A landline is not necessary because alerts go directly by SMS to friends, neighbours, family, housing provider, etc. and response is not moderated through a call centre (although one assumes it could be). If sensors are added to the system, it is possible for alerts to be triggered when the occupier’s activity deviates from normal patterns. The nicest feature (apart from the hype-free product description) is that the hub is cleverly and semi-permanently attached to the power source, which is a standard UK double electrical socket, so there are no wires that can become unplugged or cut. Download the one-page Simpalarm description (PDF) and visit the website, http://simpalarm.co.uk/ for further information.
O2 mobile care – now with added Tesco (UK)
One of the very striking but curiously underplayed aspects of O2’s launch of Help at Hand two months ago was that O2 had signed up pharmacies in the Sainsbury’s supermarket chain as retail outlets. We now hear that they have also signed up Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket chain. These are surely steps O2 is making in getting its presence ‘out there’ ready to meet demand for when it unleashes its marketing machine on the consumer market.
Related item: O2’s launch of Health at Home
TSA Integrated Code of Practice for Telecare and Telehealth Services now open for accreditations (UK)
It’s good to see at last the announcement that the Telecare Services Association’s (TSA) integrated COP is now available and that the accreditation process against it is now also open to organisation which, for whatever reason, are not TSA members. Press release (PDF)
Telecare ‘Which?’ support grows (UK)
Yes, it’s a bit of a trade puff for the Telecare EPG, and we don’t usually do ‘we-have-a-new-customer’ items, but it is good to note that 12 local authorities in the North East have signed a licence agreement so that they can access this source of independent, subscriber-funded device comparison information. Neil Revely of Sunderland City Council is reported as saying “…Matching the service user with the best technology is becoming an increasingly difficult task. The Telecare EPG will give prescribers the tools and knowledge to take advantage of new developments…” T-Cubed news item.
Sending the right message on mHealth (Africa)
Excellent update on mHealth issues for Africa in the United Nations’ Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) news website. “…the mobile phone seems to have morphed from communications device to essential life-saver. But is the evidence there yet that mHealth is an effective health delivery intervention for the developing world?” Analysis: Sending the right message on mHealth.
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