Review of two important publications of interest to people involved in both dementia care and in telecare implementation: The conference report Assistive Technology in Dementia Care and the evaluative report of the project Safe at Home.
Read the review (two pages, PDF).
Publisher’s website: www.careinfo.org/books/
Congratulations to Rugby PCT Intermediate Care Team for reaching the top five for their WristCare implementation in the Health Service Journal’s 2005 Awards in the e Technology category.
Latest addition to the set of helpful materials:
Telecare user information for local consultation Version 5 December 2005
Halton Borough Council’s intermediate care service has teamed up with the NHS to launch the Telecare system. Good to see it going public.
The Telecare Alliance’s survey of English councils with social services responsibilities confirms that just six months before the Preventative Technology Grant is to be made available to them, only a quarter were starting to put in place plans to introduce telecare and, of those, most have not yet considered the strategic issues in a comprehensive way. That leaves a sizeable majority of councils that have made little or no preparation.
The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA) has published in the OJEU an advert calling for tenders for the provision of telecare/telehealth equipment and relevant installation, response and maintenance services. Read more.
The Safe at Home project has enabled people with dementia to remain independent for longer, receiving the care and support they need in their own homes through the use of assistive technology, and has brought the local agencies in Northamptonshire equivalent savings of over £1.5 million over the 21 months during which research took place. Read more.
Buy the report from Careinfo’s website.
The Motorola Homesight Wireless Easy Starter Kit has been generating interest in computing and other techie press since the early October announcement that it was to be sold exclusively through PC World in the UK. Most reviews have concentrated on its use for home or office security monitoring. However, with its range of add-on monitoring devices such as wireless day and night vision cameras, movement detectors, water (flood) sensor, door/window sensors, temperature sensor, it would be possible to set this up as a telecare system.
Devices can trigger each other. So a movement sensor in a bedroom can be programmed only to operate at night, and to switch on a light if someone gets up, or the flood sensor can activate a camera. Events triggered by the system can be sent via email or text. With additional software from ‘I’m in touch’, monitoring can be done from a remote PC (costs 99$ per year?).
Downsides seem to be: no installation or set-up help from PC World; no direct connection to emergency services; a proprietary system (so no interconnectivity with other manufacturers); ethical considerations are down to the installer. The upsides are: availability; potential for increased consumer awareness, and the prices of the add-ons seem reasonable.
Here are a selection of links for further information:
Information from the Motorola site.
PC World site. Not very informative, but each product does have a link to slightly more information. (Starter Kit is fourth entry down.) The kit is also featured in PC World’s in-store magazine, Autumn 2005 edition. Link to site.
UK review, security focused, misses the telecare monitoring potential. Scroll down the page to read the review.
Lengthy on-line US review with set-up instructions. Click here.
Finally, a link to the ‘I’m in touch’ software site.
There is also a useful review in January 2006 edition of PC Pro (p70) but this does not appear to be available on the internet yet.
The Partnerships for Older People £60m fund was originally announced by the Department of Health in March 2005, when councils were asked to bid for sums to fund local projects.
This ODPM report, published 2 November has frequent references to telecare and telehealth scattered through it and will strengthen the hand of all those who understand the need to link the social services’ agenda with wider policy concerns. Of particular note are recommendations for action 1.8 and 8 (pages 70 and 71). There is a case study on page 7 that combines telecare and telehealth monitoring with internet and email facilities. View the report here.