Perspectives: Where next for technology-enabled care after 2025?

May 17, 2022 | by | 1 Comment

TTA has an open invitation to industry leaders to contribute to our Perspectives non-promotional opinion area. Today, we have a contribution from Adrian Scaife, Global Product Manager at Tunstall Healthcare Group. Can telecare save the UK more than £14bn over the next 10 years, as FarrPoint projected–or is that an underestimate based on the past? Can we do better than this?

Interested contributors should contact Editor Donna. (We like pictures and graphs too)

FarrPoint recently published a report showing how extending telecare services to more people could save the UK more than £14bn over the next decade. While £14bn is no small sum, it is based on the evidence of hindsight and importantly through current models of reactive service provision.

In a LinkedIn post I boldly suggested that this should be an underestimate of the benefits that Technology-Enabled Care, associated with a wider transformation of care, could deliver over the next decade.

With increasing demand for care and support combined with finite resources for provision, the statutory care system is facing a perfect storm. The cracks have been appearing for some time but have become apparent to a much wider audience during the Covid pandemic. To be blunt, the current model of care provision is unsustainable in the medium term. (And many would argue today!)

By moving to more preventative, personalised, joined up and proactive service models, supported by communities as well as statutory services, the benefits are potentially much bigger across the whole care ecosystem. (The care ecosystem includes health care, social care, housing, the third sector and, the largest group of all, informal family carers.)

Source: Social Care Future  

This new vision is being discussed by many people and organisations across the care ecosystem and has been referenced, in whole or part, in a host of reports over the last couple of years. What is most encouraging is the consensus around the direction of travel.

The real challenge is the transformation of services from purely reactive, one size fits all, to a preventative and person-centred approach across housing, social care, health care, and the third sector, supported by families, friends, and communities, while still retaining a reactive safety net.

There are important questions around the how? Enabling and underpinning these new service models will be technology using data, information, and actionable insight. New technology has already created dramatic changes in many other sectors across the UK. There is a huge demand for a new set of tools that can, for example, flag everything is OK today or when an early intervention may be required. These tools will work on an individual personalised basis and all the way up to the population level. Joining up data and using insight provided by analytics will enable new high value timely personalised interventions and provide improved outcomes for all stakeholders. 

The good news is that there are a huge variety of companies already working on these challenges from start-ups to SME’s, larger companies, and even global players. The real challenge will be around people (e.g., new working practices) and processes (e.g., new models of commissioning), and of course, culture. Part of the new story will be about enabling working across all stakeholder groups and indeed recognising families as equal partners.

Finally, this is not a transformation that will take place overnight or even within a year but a journey that will take five or more years before it reaches any type of maturity. The green shoots already exist if you look for them, they may be a little tender and frost sensitive, but they are growing! It reminds me of the early telecare journey in the late 90s and early 00s when many could not see how it would scale to where we are today!

While £14bn from traditional reactive services would be welcome, the real opportunity for improved outcomes for all stakeholders across the care system is much greater and not just in an economic context. Personally, I am enormously excited to be playing a part in enabling those tender shoots to grow, thrive, and become the norm over the next few years.

Further reading:

Weekend short takes, UK edition: Tunstall acquires Germany’s BeWo, AWS UK healthtech accelerator launches, Fidgetbum bed sleep aid gains US patent

March 11, 2022 | by

Tunstall Healthcare has acquired BeWo Unternehmensgruppe (BeWo), a German call center services, social alarm, and device technology and management company, effective 1 March. Terms and management transitions were not disclosed. The BeWo operation, which had previously worked with Tunstall in Germany, will initially be using its call center operations combined with Tunstall Cognitive Care, which uses advanced artificial intelligence (AI) in combination with technology in the home to monitor changes in condition that could be predictive of changes in health. Their information also indicates expansion into social care applications in hospitals and care homes. InsiderMedia, IoTNow, Yorkshire Post

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has named its 12 finalists in its first-ever UK healthtech accelerator. 

  • Dr Julian, a telemental health platform
  • C the Signs, AI for early identification of cancer
  • Infinity Health, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) task management tool for planning and coordinating care
  • Dignio, which connects patients and professionals through a digital platform
  • Sapien Health, a digital clinic to help patients prepare for surgery through sustainable lifestyle changes
  • WYSA for stress management through AI
  • DDM Health using digital therapeutics to improve patient health outcomes
  • PEP Health, which uses AI to help patients share their thoughts in real time
  • Remedy Rx, capturing around 95% of the data that sits outside the healthcare system to link doctors and patients
  • Birdie, a tech platform for home care providers
  • Abtrace, which uses data to detect, monitor, and treat long-term disease
  • Thymia, which analyses speech, video, and behavioral data gathered via video games to assess patients’ mental health conditions

The four-week accelerator programs will help the startups in business models, regulatory pathways, clinical validation, electronic health record integration, specialized AWS training and promotional credits, mentoring from healthcare domain and technical subject matter experts, business development, go-to-market guidance, and investment guidance. The group was selected in partnership with govtech accelerator Public, from a pool of over 100 applicants. ComputerWeekly

The interestingly named Fidgetbum is on the face of it, off our normal healthtech beat. It’s meant to help transition young children from crib to bed and sleep through most of the night through a stretchy wrap-around device that snugly holds the covers in place without restricting the child. The sensory effect is being hugged, without the heaviness and heat generation of a weighted blanket, and has been used successfully with children who have sensory needs, such as autism and epilepsy, or simply feel insecure. Founder Melanie Wood was recently granted a US design patent, which will open up the US market for the company. It’s perhaps this Editor’s recent sleeplessness, but this sounds like a natural cross-promotion with Owlet’s new Dream Sock Plus that fits up to 5 years [TTA 16 Feb]. THIIS

Extending telecare services to 800,000 more people could save the UK £14.5bn: study

February 18, 2022 | by

An economic analysis by digital connectivity consultancy FarrPoint found that extending telecare and technology-enabled care services to more people aged 75+ could achieve benefits of  £14.5 billion over the next decade. By country, the savings are £12.3 billion in England, £1.1 billion in Scotland, £717 million in Wales, and £370 million in Northern Ireland.  The benefits are improving social inclusion, wellbeing and community resilience, alleviating bed blocking and hospital admissions which are highly quantifiable costs to the healthcare system.

Currently, 2 million people use telecare services in the UK. Based on current take-up rates of 1 in 5 (aged 75+), if this were 1 in 3, an additional 800,000 people could benefit from access to technology-enabled care across the country (eHealth Scot). Over the next decade, that group will likely grow to 1 million, totaling 3 million of the estimated 7.3 million aged 75+ in 2030 (Office of National Statistics estimate)

FarrPoint’s point of view is that the expansion of telehealth is necessary to alleviate the coming demographic crunch in the social care system to prevent a crisis. Their definition of telecare is a modest one: pendants connected to alarm centers and door, bed, and fall sensors.

Their findings are also linked with the first-ever telecare analysis across Wales for TEC Cymru, the program responsible for supporting the shift to technology-enabled care in Wales, where 67% of councils are moving from analog to digital technology for telecare services to their current 77,000 persons, mostly over 65. FarrPoint article

Caveat: we do hope they account for the downsides of VOIP and power outages cutting all telecom off to the vulnerable, all too common in the rural parts of the UK where they live [TTA 21 Dec 21].

Hat tip to Adrian Scaife, who has moved to the ‘Big T’ as Group Product Manager Housing at Tunstall Healthcare (in a smart move on their part!)

Alcuris acquired by the Access Group (UK)

November 19, 2021 | by

The Access Group and social care digital connectivity/alarm developer Alcuris announced Thursday that Alcuris has been acquired by the Access Group to be part of their Health and Social Care business. The Access Group is a diversified business management software company with products in construction, education, not-for-profit, hospitality, legal, recruitment, and visitor attraction management. Alcuris founder and head Alex Nash said that “The Alcuris team is thrilled to be joining The Access Group, whose Health and Social Care division is the leading provider to the local government, health and social care sectors in the UK. Earlier this month we announced our partnership with Medequip Assistive Technology Ltd and Wirral Council; the first local authority to deploy next generation telecare services at scale. As part of the Access family, we look forward to setting the standard in a digital care system that connects people, data and services and enables intelligent care decisions at the speed of life.” 

The connection between Alcuris and the Access Group is an interesting one, through Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park (LUSEP). Alcuris started up there in 2017 and Access one year earlier. Mr. Nash is a Loughborough graduate who studied Product Design Engineering and started Alcuris in 2015 during his studies there, following his grandfather’s diagnosis of dementia. Access is based at LUSEP and opened a £20 million headquarters there earlier this week, though it has operations outside the UK in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Malaysia. Transaction cost and management transitions were not disclosed.

We wish them both bonne chance! Access (short) release, Loughborough University news site

Who’s available? A user training professional with experience in security, social alarm, and telecare control rooms

July 26, 2018 | by

Mr. Paul Dixon has taken advantage of our open offer to Readers who are available to lend their talents to new or established companies in the healthcare or healthcare tech field. 

I am a “tech-savvy” and experienced user training professional with extensive experience in providing training in a broad range of contexts and environments. I am specifically experienced in security, social alarm and telecare control rooms. As I also have a background in management and leadership, one of my key differentiators is that I focus on behavioural change in staff, not just on “mechanical” user processes.

In addition to training, I can create a full range of user-focused training materials.

Mr. Dixon was kind enough to include a comprehensive overview of how he can contribute to a company. He’s available for short and medium term projects as a freelancer, or on-going user training on an ad-hoc or retainer basis. Contact him on (m) 07734 600950 (UK) or paul@pauld.pro.  He’s on Twitter at @PaulWBM.

News roundup: FCC RPM/telehealth push, NHS EHR coding breach, unstructured data in geriatric diagnosis, Cerner-Lumeris, NHS funds social care, hospital RFID uses

July 13, 2018 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lasso.jpg” thumb_width=”125″ /]FCC backs post-discharge RPM plan. The “Connected Care Pilot Program” proposed by FCC commissioner Brendan Carr would provide $100 million for subsidies to hospitals or wireless providers running post-discharge remote monitoring programs for low-income and rural Americans such as those run by the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The goal is to lower readmissions and improve patient outcomes. The proposal still needs to be formalized so it would be 2019 at earliest. POLITICO Morning eHealth, Clarion-Ledger, Mobihealthnews

NHS Digital’s 150,000 patient data breach originated in a coding error in the SystmOne EHR used by GPs. Through the error by TPP, SystmOne did not recognize the “type 2 opt-out” for use of individual data in clinical research and planning purposes. This affected records after 31 March 2015. This breach also affects vendors which received the data, albeit unknowingly, but the duration of the breach makes it hard to put the genie back in the bottle, which NHS Digital would like to do. Inforisktoday, NHS Digital release

Unstructured data in EHRs more valuable than structured data in older adult patient health. A new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society compared the number of geriatric syndrome cases identified using structured claims and structured and unstructured EHR data, finding that the unstructured data was needed to properly identify geriatric syndrome. Over 18,000 patients’ unstructured EHR notes were analyzed using a natural language processing (NLP) algorithm.

Cerner buying a share in population health/value-based care management company Lumeris through purchasing $266 million in stock in Lumeris parent Essence Group Holdings. The angle is data crunching to improve outcomes for patients in Medicare Advantage and other value-based plans. Lumeris also operates Essence Healthcare, a Medicare Advantage plan with 65,000 beneficiaries in Missouri. Fierce Healthcare

NHS Digital awarding £240,000 for investigating social care transformation through technology. The Social Care Digital Innovation Programme in 12 councils will be managed by both NHS and the Local Government Association (LGA). Projects to be funded span from assistive technologies to predictive analytics. Six winners from the original group of 12 after three months will be awarded up to a further £80,000 each to design and implement their solutions. New Statesman

Curious about RFID in use in healthcare, other than in asset management, access, and log in? Contactless payments is one area. As this is the first of four articles, you’ll have to follow up in Healthcare IT News

Tenders closing quickly: Cornwall/Isles of Scilly, Blackpool

June 13, 2017 | by

Susanne Woodman of BRE, our Eye on Tenders, had sent these earlier but your Editor was at fault in being tardy in reviewing them. But there’s still time!

  • Cornwall/Isles of Scilly: The University of Plymouth and E-health Productivity & Innovation Cornwall & Isles of Scilly (EPIC) are seeking to engage specialist support for the Social Care Sector and Care Homes across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to develop their awareness and capability to adopt emerging ehealth products and services. This is closing Wed 14 June so go to the Plymouth website for more information. Gov.UK Contracts Finder
  • Blackpool Council: They are inviting “suitably experienced care organisations to participate in an exploratory exercise to help the Council better understand the market position with regards to supporting individuals with a learning disability and/or autism to live independently through use of assistive technology.” This closes Monday June 19. Tenders Electronic Daily (TED), Due North website

IBM Watson Health computes into diabetes management, UK care budgeting (US/UK)

October 5, 2016 | by | 1 Comment

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/SugarIQ2-712.jpg” thumb_width=”250″ /]IBM Watson Health, the advanced cognitive computing division of IBM, with Medtronic has developed an app that may, when marketed after FDA approval, help to ease for diabetes patients their daily ‘Battle of Stalingrad’. Sugar.IQ is an app that finds patterns in diabetes data through combining Watson’s cognitive computing capabilities with diabetes data from Medtronic and other sources. The app then uses continuous glucose monitoring data from Medtronic insulin pumps and glucose sensors to give specific, personalized information to the patient on their health trends and how to better manage their diabetes. The analytic features are impressive. Glycemic Assist lets the patient ask the app to follow specific food or therapy-related actions and events to see their exact impact. The Food Logging feature can track specific foods in a diary to determine the effects of specific foods. It is being tested presently on 100 MiniMed Connect users. Previewed at last week’s Health 2.0 conference. HealthcareITNews (photo), Medtronic blog post, Medtronic release (PDF) (This MiniMed Connect is not to be confused with the Medtronic MiniMed 670G artificial pancreas–hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery system for type 1 diabetes patients–just approved by FDA. MedCityNews)

In the UK, Harrow Council in northwest London is using IBM Watson Health’s Care Manager for social care service matching and budgeting. Using “cognitive technologies that provide personalised insight and evidence based guidelines”, Watson will match individuals’ needs and budgets to providers, and will be further able to manage costs over the ten-year agreement by “control(ling) the contract and payments between the individual commissioning for support, and social care providers competing to supply the service.” It’s not entirely clear to this Editor how the individual flexibility of care and services works with the recipient, however. The IBM Watson Health announcement follows on last May’s announcement with Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and the Hartee Centre to transform Alder Hey into the UK’s first “cognitive hospital”. DigitalHealth.net  Hat tip to reader Paul Costello of Viterion Digital Health

Worcestershire County Council seeking vendors for ‘Future Lives: New Technology’ (UK)

July 3, 2015 | by

Susanne Woodman of the WCC was kind enough to inform this Editor that they are seeking up to five businesses to create a technology-based social care solution. They are inviting interested companies to meet with them for a presentation and informal discussions on Wednesday 22nd July 2015 at 10.30am County Hall, Spetchley Road, Worcester WR5 2NP. More tender details and how to apply for Future Lives is here.

‘Alarming deterioration in NHS finances’: The King’s Fund April report

April 24, 2015 | by

The King’s Fund has prepared since 2011 a Quarterly Monitoring Report on the performance of the NHS as seen by its finance directors. It is a ‘regular update on how the NHS is coping as it grapples with the evolving reform agenda and the more significant challenge of making radical improvements in productivity.’ Report #15 does not bring auspicious news as the challenges deepen. 7 of 10 NHS trust directors are concerned about balancing their books next year, and 60 percent have either drawn down reserves or relied on additional financial support. In healthcare delivery performance, over 440,000 patients in this quarter spent more than four hours in A&E (US=ER or ED), the poorest performance since 2003. (more…)

Building from the bottom up: an approach to healthcare

March 3, 2015 | by

Reader and independent UK consultant Guy Dewsbury writes about an approach to health and social care delivery that gives staff more control, as well as accountability, and integrates mobile into not just tablets, but keeping care plans updated in real time.

Effectively it inverts the current care pathway, but potentially achieves a better quality of care, as frontline staff are not required to spend time updating records in an office because they are updated on the go.

and

Having a smartphone-based programme, in real time, allows the managers to be kept up-to-date on all their staff. The software could also help with reports and handovers ensuring the most up-to-date information on each person being cared for is available to the frontline staff coming on shift.

concluding

Empowering frontline staff with technology can mean more appropriate, timely care and a more resilient workforce who are happier as their worth is valued.

 

He’s been kind enough to give TTA readers access to his freshly published article in Care Management Matters.

Guy’s website here. Previously in TTA on the Dependability Assessment Tool for telecare.