Robotic Care?

2 minutes 18 seconds. Title: Promotional video
1 minute 27 seconds. Title: Demonstration

They like robots in Japan and are working hard to turn them into human replacement care givers. RI-MAN, developed by Riken BMC, can ‘see’, ‘hear’ ‘touch’ and ‘smell’ and can lift and carry a person – well, mannequin in the demo. TIME selected RI-MAN as one of the best products of 2006. See the two videos near the top of this page. Watch them both. Scroll down for more information and pictures. After that, you may like to visit the Secom Meal Assistance My Spoon robot site. No video, but an interesting development for the right clients.

Telecare – Providing Dignity, Security and Efficiency

1) To view it via internet you will need to provide your contact details to this commercial company, GBTV’s LocalGov TV (not to be confused with the LGA’s Local Government Channel on www.localgovtv.com) . The quid pro for viewing the video is that you will receive marketing material. It is available to buy on DVD, but the price isn’t revealed on the site.

2) The programme is split into segements. The viewing lengths are:

  • Expert Panel – Telecare Opportunities: 7 min
  • Case Study- Notts Care Services – Award Winning Telecare: 6 min
  • Case Study- Cheshire County Mainstreams Telecare: 8 min
  • Case Study- Safety Confirmation – A New Approach to Telecare: 5 min
  • Policy Drivers and Initiatives: 3 min
  • Clarifying the Terminology: 4 min
  • Service and Technology Options: 4 min
  • Procurement through PASA: 3 min
  • PTG Preventative Technology Grant: 2 min
  • Key Challenges: 7 min
  • Local Authority Progress to Date: 7 min
  • The Future for Telecare: 6 min

Westminster – Cisco’s Wireless City

6 minutes 30 seconds.

Title: Westminster – The Wireless City: Improving Business and Services with WIFI.
This addition to the video library should give ammunition to all who are looking for substantial investment in telecare. The video itself shows how Westminster invested many millions in wireless CCT systems to help keep its citizens and visitors safe on the streets. How about a similar spend to keep them safe in their homes? View the video on the Cisco site via the above link.

Mobile Teledicine Vehicle

Preparation for the Great Californian Disaster maybe? The Loma Linda University Medical Center which produced this vehicle, and the video, is a Seventh-Day Adventists’ healthcare institution.

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Telehealth in Hackney (UK)

3 minutes 21 seconds. Title: Telehealth in Hackney

This is the 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’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRVfVAWg5Bg

The video was made by Choose Independence Ltd.

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transparency statement

Telecare and telehealth coming together in Norfolk (UK)

With a bit of editing and a slightly revamped commentary this video could become a useful introduction to telecare and telehealth for the public. However, people who know me will anticipate that I have a huge problem with Norfolk’s conflation of ‘assistive technology’ with telecare and telehealth, hence I’ve also categorised the video under ‘terminology’.

Let’s get this straight: ‘assistive technology’ is a very broad term for any equipment that helps compensate for some form of functional impairment. Or, as the Foundation for Assistive Technology (FAST) defines it, “Assistive Technology (AT) is any product or service designed to enable independence for disabled and older people.” A few shots at the beginning of the video imply that they understand this, but it soon slips into referring to the telecare and telehealth as AT. Although can be regarded as a subset of AT, there is no implication that AT has a remote component in any way, which is the key defining characteristic of telecare, telehealth, telemedicine, etc. When I was contracted to work at the Department of Health I frequently reminded civil servants and Ministers not to refer to telecare as ‘assistive technology’ and I thought that eventually the message did get through. At least by the time the Preventative Technology Grant conditions were published. And now it raises its head again…

OK, rant over! My thanks to Saneth Wijayaratna of Telemedcare Ltd for alerting me to the 7 minute video.

 

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