Coventry City Council and its Orbit Care and Repair team are piloting a scheme to provide telecare services to people with moderate needs.
The service tends to be given to people needing high levels of support. The council wants to offer telecare to a wider range of people by October 2010.
The council already uses telecare in a variety of ways to give individuals more control and live independent lives. This includes:
· installation of 375 monitoring units and 1,500 pendant alarms across the city – most of them for older people in their own homes
· extending telecare to people from 18 years of age
· personalised nurse call pager systems for people in housing with care flats
· monitors in the homes of people with learning disabilities to detect changed in behaviour.
Friday, 6 November 2009
Telehealth expansion in Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton City Council has expanded its provision of telehealth following a trial run in partnership with Wolverhampton PCT.
The pilot, funded by central government’s Preventative Technology Grant, tested the feasibility of introducing telehealth across the city by setting up 40 health monitors and providing training.
The PCT has since paid for a technician’s post which is managed by the council as part of the Telecare team, and employed a project lead to make telehealth an integral part of health and social care.
Future plans include:
· the Royal Wolverhampton Hospital Trust respiratory team running a telehealth trial with the council and PCT
· the Strategic Health Authority employing eight project managers on 12 month contracts to support the PCTs telehealth leads
· participation in the automatic pill dispenser pilot project (see pill dispenser pilot launch story)
· exploring the possibility of a 24 hour response service and creating a joint health and social care city wide telehealth service.
The council is currently piloting with the Night Visiting Service, a telecare response service from 10pm to 7.30am.
For more information contact Helen Rowney, Telecare Co ordinator; telephone: 01902 553666, email: Helen.Rowney@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Signed, sealed and ready for delivery
Mobius UK has been contracted to bring service commissioners and providers together to work out how to meet the growing needs and demands of delivering personalised services.
They will help service providers and local authorities:
· Improve their understanding of each others needs
· understand the implications for commissioning
· identify potential opportunities for providers
· influence and shape the emerging personalisation markets
The work will be jointly funded by Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands (IEWM) and Department of Health West Midlands. Progress will be reported through the JIP.
Nine local authorities have already agreed to take part. They are:
Dudley MBC
Coventry CC
Walsall MBC
Sandwell MBC
Warwickshire CC
Worcestershire CC
Staffordshire CC
Birmingham CC
Wolverhampton CC
Other authorities wanting to be involved can contact Rob Williams on
mobile: 07740 704490 or email: rob@mobiusuk.org
They will help service providers and local authorities:
· Improve their understanding of each others needs
· understand the implications for commissioning
· identify potential opportunities for providers
· influence and shape the emerging personalisation markets
The work will be jointly funded by Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands (IEWM) and Department of Health West Midlands. Progress will be reported through the JIP.
Nine local authorities have already agreed to take part. They are:
Dudley MBC
Coventry CC
Walsall MBC
Sandwell MBC
Warwickshire CC
Worcestershire CC
Staffordshire CC
Birmingham CC
Wolverhampton CC
Other authorities wanting to be involved can contact Rob Williams on
mobile: 07740 704490 or email: rob@mobiusuk.org
Pill Dispenser trial goes live
Over 400 vulnerable adults in the West Midlands, who risk deteriorating ill health by forgetting to take their medication, are taking part in a major trial of an automatic pill dispenser organised by the JIP.
The pilot is the first and largest regional study involving health and social care specialists, with six local authorities and Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) taking part.
The aim is to show how safe and appropriate technology can help vulnerable
people stay well and live independently in their own home.
Research by Birmingham University has shown the pill dispenser is beneficial for older people and those with early dementia or Parkinson’s disease, and could be useful for adults with learning difficulties or mental health problems.
The battery operated device has a built-in alarm which is programmed to sound or flash, reminding patients when and which pills to take. It can prevent those who have difficulty remembering, from overdosing or not taking enough, and, as a result, being re-admitted to hospital or placed in residential care for their own safety.
The dispenser will be trialled for six months in various situations. Data will be collected on:
· Users compliance with taking medication
· Users and carers satisfaction and feedback
· Savings to the NHS and social services
· Impact on reduction of wasted medication
A report on the findings will be published.
The pilot is a joint project involving the Joint Improvement Partnership (JIP), Boots UK and independent pharmacies and PivoTell the distributors of the dispenser, and supported with funding from the Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG) and the NHS West Midlands.
The following PCTs and local authorities have will be taking part:
· Worcestershire County Council
· Dudley MBC
· Staffordshire County Council
· North Staffordshire PCT
· Wolverhampton City Council
· Telford & Wrekin Council
Contact project manager, Andy Jackson; mobile: 07815 073611, email: andy.jackson28@ntlworld.com
The pilot is the first and largest regional study involving health and social care specialists, with six local authorities and Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) taking part.
The aim is to show how safe and appropriate technology can help vulnerable
people stay well and live independently in their own home.
Research by Birmingham University has shown the pill dispenser is beneficial for older people and those with early dementia or Parkinson’s disease, and could be useful for adults with learning difficulties or mental health problems.
The battery operated device has a built-in alarm which is programmed to sound or flash, reminding patients when and which pills to take. It can prevent those who have difficulty remembering, from overdosing or not taking enough, and, as a result, being re-admitted to hospital or placed in residential care for their own safety.
The dispenser will be trialled for six months in various situations. Data will be collected on:
· Users compliance with taking medication
· Users and carers satisfaction and feedback
· Savings to the NHS and social services
· Impact on reduction of wasted medication
A report on the findings will be published.
The pilot is a joint project involving the Joint Improvement Partnership (JIP), Boots UK and independent pharmacies and PivoTell the distributors of the dispenser, and supported with funding from the Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG) and the NHS West Midlands.
The following PCTs and local authorities have will be taking part:
· Worcestershire County Council
· Dudley MBC
· Staffordshire County Council
· North Staffordshire PCT
· Wolverhampton City Council
· Telford & Wrekin Council
Contact project manager, Andy Jackson; mobile: 07815 073611, email: andy.jackson28@ntlworld.com
Telecare research on track
Government backed research into telehealth and telecare technologies is in its second and final year.
Funded by the Department of Health, the Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) programme aims to clarify how telehealth and telecare technologies can:
· promote long term health and independence
· improve quality of life for people and their carers
· improve the working lives of health and social care professionals
· provide an evidence for more cost and clinically effective ways of managing long term conditions.
The WSD programme, launched in May 2008, is one of the largest research programmes of its type.
Results will be published in 2010, and will provide the basis for future care and technology models that may influence DH policies and lead to wide scale investment in telecare and telehealth.
Click here for details
Funded by the Department of Health, the Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) programme aims to clarify how telehealth and telecare technologies can:
· promote long term health and independence
· improve quality of life for people and their carers
· improve the working lives of health and social care professionals
· provide an evidence for more cost and clinically effective ways of managing long term conditions.
The WSD programme, launched in May 2008, is one of the largest research programmes of its type.
Results will be published in 2010, and will provide the basis for future care and technology models that may influence DH policies and lead to wide scale investment in telecare and telehealth.
Click here for details
Making telecare work
Building Telecare in England sets out the government’s vision for the development of telecare services.
The document gives advice to councils and their health, housing and social care partners, on how to develop local telecare strategies.
The government sees telecare – the provision of equipment to help individuals live independently at home - as:
• reducing the need for residential/nursing care
• unlocking resources that can be redirected elsewhere in the system
• increasing choice and independence for services users
• reducing the burden placed on carers and providing them with more personal
freedom
• contributing to care and support for people with long term health conditions
• reducing acute hospital admissions
• reducing accidents and falls in the home
• supporting hospital discharge and intermediate care
• contributing to the development of a range of preventative services
• helping those who wish to die at home to do so with dignity.
Over the next 50 years the number of people aged 65 and over will rise from 9.3 million to 16.8 million.
Effective use of telecare and telehealth – using technology to monitor health conditions remotely - will make it possible for thousands of older people to remain independent and maintain control over their lives in their own homes for longer.
Click here for details
The document gives advice to councils and their health, housing and social care partners, on how to develop local telecare strategies.
The government sees telecare – the provision of equipment to help individuals live independently at home - as:
• reducing the need for residential/nursing care
• unlocking resources that can be redirected elsewhere in the system
• increasing choice and independence for services users
• reducing the burden placed on carers and providing them with more personal
freedom
• contributing to care and support for people with long term health conditions
• reducing acute hospital admissions
• reducing accidents and falls in the home
• supporting hospital discharge and intermediate care
• contributing to the development of a range of preventative services
• helping those who wish to die at home to do so with dignity.
Over the next 50 years the number of people aged 65 and over will rise from 9.3 million to 16.8 million.
Effective use of telecare and telehealth – using technology to monitor health conditions remotely - will make it possible for thousands of older people to remain independent and maintain control over their lives in their own homes for longer.
Click here for details
Friday, 9 October 2009
Changing social care: an inclusive approach
Published by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), this guide gives ideas and suggestions on how to successfully change services to put people at the centre of their own care and support.
It begins with a brief overview of policy and then moves on to a series of ‘how to’ sections. It looks at the importance of good leadership, and the involvement of both the workforce and stakeholders in achieving change.
It also explores how the service users can positively drive and influence change.
Click here for details
It begins with a brief overview of policy and then moves on to a series of ‘how to’ sections. It looks at the importance of good leadership, and the involvement of both the workforce and stakeholders in achieving change.
It also explores how the service users can positively drive and influence change.
Click here for details
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