Living independently is incredibly important to most of us, but as we get older this often becomes more challenging. We are living longer as a nation, and we therefore need to invest in and innovate technology to meet the needs of our growing older population. With over 65s recently overtaking under 15s in England and Wales, more pressure will be placed on our services and greater efficiencies are therefore needed to ensure the right care can be delivered at the right time, and people can live independently for longer.
Gavin Bashar, UK managing director at Tunstall Healthcare, discusses how technology can transform our health and care services, the barriers to integration and how it can be utilised to help us live more independently.
Why technology?
The Office for National Statistics predicts a 36% growth in persons aged 85+ between 2015 and 2025, from 1.5 million to 2 million. This is expected to lead to a substantial increase in demand for health, housing and social care services. We must therefore invest in technology transformation and innovate solutions to support independent living and enable service providers to meet needs. Whether it’s the use of virtual care platforms, remote monitoring solutions, communication tools, digital apps or sophisticated data platforms, services are entering a new phase of digital maturity. The potential for cutting-edge technologies to support predictive, preventive and personalised care is huge and opens up new horizons in independent living.
Digital innovation also has a critical role to play in driving integration and collaboration between different health, housing and social care organisations. It also has the potential to enable these sectors to make the most of scarce resources and deliver better, more informed, and more effective care. Working together is in everyone’s interests as a large part of the population have both health and care needs. By delivering properly joined up care, people can access health and care services as seamlessly as possible, and be placed at the heart of decisions made about them and their care.
Technology enabled care services (TECS) offer the possibility for people, especially older people, to live more independent, happy, healthy lives whilst reducing the pressures on our services. As service providers continue to invest in technology solutions, we’ll see an increase in the ability of citizens to maintain their independence, stay safe and continue living at home. New technologies have the potential not just to improve the quality of care and support but also to make it easier for people to pursue their preferred lifestyles in a place of their choice.
How can technology support independent living?
Our health, housing and social care services have previously been slow to adopt innovations, and professionals often view technology as a way of managing people’s care needs – overlooking its capacity to give people greater agency, choice and control. However, technology can play a key role in supporting independent living.
There are a range of solutions currently available on the market which are scalable and can be adapted to different environments, from individual private homes to those with shared facilities, and residential care. From state of the art yet unobtrusive touchscreen systems, to technology designed to support people with highly complex needs in nursing homes such as advanced nurse call systems, technology really can support more independent living. Solutions can provide 24 hour reassurance and provide a platform for telecare devices and wearable technology to be added over time if needed.
Digital solutions not only support the people who use them, but those who care for them, providing respite and reassurance to informal carers and empowering care staff to work more efficiently, reduce bureaucracy and enable them to spot changes in people’s behaviour. Technology can improve the quality of conversations between clinicians, caregivers and patients, and support assistive and more effective care services that improve people’s lives, drive collaborations and connections, and enhance places.
Integration and collaboration
Integration and investment in technology transformation will enable us to reconfigure our services and create a more connected and intelligent world that enables efficient, proactive and integrated care services.
As we look to a more digital future, health, housing and social care services need to work together to harness the power of a more connected world and understand the value that can come from technology solutions. Telecare services can be efficiently configured and connected to different devices to streamline care provision and provide 24 hour support, and telehealth can empower people to become active participants in their own health management.
Collaboration between our services will transform the delivery and operation of care provision as greater connection will be supported between stakeholders such as GPs, care homes and housing providers. The transformation of care delivery through technology will improve how systems operate, with a strong focus and determination to deliver person centred care and support. This will bridge the gaps between providers and support a connected and more intelligent health and social care system.
Technology transformation in action
We are seeing more projects being deployed that use technology to provide care for vulnerable people to enable them to live safely and independently for as long as possible. The population of West Wales has a higher proportion of older people, a longer life expectancy and lower disability free life expectancy than the Welsh average, and it’s predicted that 44% of the population over 75 will have a limiting long term illness by 2035.
The CONNECT project provides an enhanced lifeline and telecare service to vulnerable older people across Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion. The pilot project has been funded by the Welsh Government’s Transformation Fund, enabling the West Wales Care Partnership Board to work together to help shape the future of health and social care services across west Wales.
The aim of the project, which is the first of its kind in Wales, is to support a prevention and early-intervention care system through proactive wellbeing calls which can help identify any potential health and wellbeing issues at the earliest opportunity to ensure needs are supported accordingly. As part of the service, CONNECT also offers flexible support packages tailored towards an individual’s specific needs to help them live independently for as long as possible utilising the latest Technology Enabled Care (TEC).
The model provides an integrated and holistic pathway that assesses how a person is feeling, and works with them to set individual wellbeing goals utilising community-based assets that are supported by a personalised digital prescription, regular proactive calling, a multi-disciplinary team, and responder service.
By January 2021, the service had assessed the needs of over 1,800 people to develop a personalised support package to help them live independently at home, responded to 1,646 call outs with only 99 (6%) needing to be escalated to emergency services, and sent rapid response teams to help 529 people who had a fall with 97% of all calls being attended within 60 minutes.
Samantha Watkins, managing director at Delta Wellbeing, said: “Our model is truly proactive, preventative and outcomes focused. TEC is key to our ambitions for transforming care and support. It makes a critical contribution to empowerment, self-management, independence and safety. It enables a model that means we can deliver regionally but with local implementation to provide consistency of approach, economies of scale and resources.”
What does the future hold?
Wider digital technology transformation and the application of data is now seen as vital to the smarter management of operations, allocation of resources, collaboration across teams and services, and better delivery of care services. Effectively managed and integrated telecare programmes can have a major impact in current operating terms, and improve citizen experience, support improved quality of life, and provide enhanced services which are tailored to meet specific needs.
TECS offer capabilities for a world where people have the freedom to live life to the full in a place of their choice through care and support that is inclusive, accessible and innovative.
