Technology Enabled Care solutions help take the pressure off Emergency Care

By Wendy Hugoosgift Contreras, Director Monitoring Services for Tunstall Healthcare Group

Being connected, from person to person, has proven to be the true value of our service delivery. Although our healthcare systems might be different in each of our markets, service users’ needs to live life to the full in a place of their choice is universal. And we are proud to be able to support our customers on a global scale with the positive impact of the transition to advanced levels of telecare. Not only in avoiding costs but also in providing better support for users and carers to live safely and independently for longer.

Proactive and personalised telecare had already proven to help older people stay independent at home for longer – supporting them to feel safer and more self-sufficient, delaying a move to a care home and helping local authorities free up millions in social care funding.

This recent article in the Journal of Healthcare Informatics Research based on independent research now shows how advanced use of telecare takes the pressure off emergency care services by reducing ambulance mobilisations by33.3%, despite the increasing age profile of the telecare service users.

Kristoffer Axelsson, Chief Commercial Officer is proud to say that “we have been developing advanced telecare in line with our transition strategy to Tunstall Cognitive Care®  to deliver unique care for each and every individual using data driven technologies to not only respond to incidents and predict illness but in the future to also prevent them from happening. This study underpins the great work of our teams and forward-thinking partners on this journey so far to support people to live independently for longer in a place of there choice.”

This longitudinal study of a telecare service user population in Spain (n=202.1k to 247.9k) was undertaken using anonymised real world data collected in the delivery of proactive and personalised telecare services over the period 2014-18. A characteristic of the proactive and personalised telecare service is to avoid or reduce critical situations arising. Through an integrated approach of risk stratification, outbound calls, follow ups, home care visits, along with advice and guidance, to provide broader and more holistic support for service users and their carers. However, whenever a personal emergency does occur, the Monitoring Centre (or Response Centre) triages the alarm and mobilises the most appropriate response based on the situation.  As a result, data is routinely collected on mobilisations for all service users, including ambulance mobilisations. 

Independent research by Ignetica Ltd (UK) has now identified the positive correlation coefficient between ambulance mobilisations and service user’s dependency levels, and marginal negative correlation in older age bands. Indeed, the share of those over 85 years in the high dependency level decreased.  Meaning that while people stay longer in the service and grow older in the service, their need for ambulance mobilisations still reduces significantly and may also have helped ensure those continuing to live independently remain in lower risk bands.

Encouraging to see that by being connected, from person to person, we help solve real world problems.

More information on the wider study and outcome framework can be found in the Transformational Potential of Telecare Whitepaper.