safe

healthy

assured

independent

in your homeLoop

STAY – Trusted Assessor Training / Telecare Integration

LD / & Virtual Visiting

Alasdair Morrison - STAY Service Manager

How Telecare can work• Introducing Telecare systems and Assistive

Technology at an early stage

• Utilising Telehealthcare to create personalised ‘Technological Platforms’

• A platform that assists individuals to stay safe, stay healthy and remain assured in order to live independently

• Remembering that Telehealthcare is designed to complement care packages and should not be seen as a total replacement for human contact and physical support

• Telehealthcare major factor in helping services redesign in order to reduce the spend per head

STAY’s Trusted Assessor Approach

• Old methods of training and awareness did not deliver the required outcomes and aims

• Start afresh to develop a better way of engaging staff and integrating use of Telecare within services and organisations

• Help the workforce to understand what is available and how it can be used

• Dedicated awareness and training

STAY’s Trusted Assessor Approach

• 1st Step – Making training compulsory

• Senior Management support

• Make Telecare another ‘tool’ in assessor’s ‘toolkit’

• Home Loans / Joint Equipment stores equipment – known to all.

• Telecare is not and should not be any different

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You are a professional , What are the risks you have identified where STAY can help?

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In respect of each specific risk:

You are not necessarily expected to identify a specific item of equipment, but more….

””WWhat shape will any technological solution take?hat shape will any technological solution take?

In other words, you need to describe what it needs to do.

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Does the person live alone?

Are there carers?

Where are carers situated?

Does the person already have a community alarm installed?

Who might be willing to act on alerts from any STAY equipment provided?

Are there times when the person is left alone?

esponse

Benefits Obtained• STAY receives up to 200 referrals per month for Telecare

packages required.

• The current assessment function consists of 3 staff

• Not all referrals need a physical assessment from STAY

• Using our Trusted Assessors – 65% of all referrals are now ‘desktop’ assessed in-house

• Decisions made on Telecare packages as part of the Duty process

• No delays by having to assess all referrals – quicker delivery of Telecare packages

• Earlier interventions mean less costs incurred by Adult Social Care and other organisations

• Utilising the existing professionals, not generating expensive service delivery models

Telecare LD Project

Alasdair Morrison - STAY Service Manager

Jointly Funded Regional Pilot• Matched funding provided by West Midlands JIP and

Sandwell Adult Social Care

• Dedicated Project Team included – Telecare OT / Specialist Social Worker / Project Manager / Telecare Service Manager / LD Commissioners / LD Service Team Leaders

• Initially targeting High Cost Packages to be re-assessed with a view of reducing support costs and encouraging the use of Telecare and other Technologies

• 33 initial cases – aimed that challenging Needs verses Wants

• Promote independent living and positive risk taking

Lessons Learnt• Long establish packages support out-dated and extremely costly

• Providers inform Service users to ask for more ‘hours’, Social Workers provide more ‘hours’.

• Examples: -• 8 hours of support a day as a service user once fell at home 5

years ago. • Medication visits paid for when service user self medicates when

visiting family• Accompanied for all travel when service user can use transport

independently

• Support workers trying to put up barriers to the introduction of technology stating service users would not be able to interact with it or encouraging service users to refuse technology.

• Case conferencing with family / advocates / support workers to explain what needs to happen and how technology will support and protect service users is a MUST

Methods Used to Embed Technology

• Service user visits to STAY offices to see how technologies work and understand how it will assist them with their day to day living.

• Allow all to touch / feel / play / use equipment in order to overcome barriers.

• Embed Trusted Assessor Training and Telecare provision within Social Worker’s roles. Ensuring all packages of care that do not include Telecare are challenged by managers prior to funding being signed off.

• Allow simultaneous provision of existing support and technology with clear timetable for removal of support elements identified. Timely reviews and case conferencing to ensure packages complimentary, allowing for identified reductions to be made

Financial Impact• 33 cases re-assessed as part of the project

• Funding came from Supporting People budget and Community Learning Disabilities Team budget (pooled)

• 2012/13 CURRENT realised financial savings from these budgets as of June = £156,355

• 2012/13 PENDING financial savings = £333,399 (awaiting commencement of On-Call Response Service

prior to reducing packages of support)

• Total savings against budgets for 33 cases =

£489,734

• Savings based on reduction of current costs incurred – not linked to any cost diversions or standard efficiencies

Next Steps / Targeted Workstreams

• Telecare LD Project formally completed – Awaiting evaluation and case study write ups.

• Dedicated team to now look at low – medium packages of support (20-60) hours per week.

• Less costly but greater volume

• Residential Contracts (in and out of Borough) - Clearly identified potential savings where 1-1 (24 hrs) support is provided to each service user within residential settings

• Re-assessment to include Support Planners to allow for greater provision of Individual Budgets

• Working with LD Providers to help and encourage more diverse service provision to better fit the Personalisation agenda

Introducing Virtual Visiting A New Era in

TelehealthcareAlasdair Morrison - STAY Service Manager

How does Virtual Visiting Work

• We provide someone with equipment that links to their television and broadband connection

• The system is configured with their TV so that virtual visiting can be used

• A professional can make a call from their PC at work requesting a live video call with a customer

• A message will appear on the customer’s TV screen showing that someone is trying to call them

• The customer accepts the call using their control panel and the TV will switch to the virtual visiting channel where the live call can take place

What are the benefits of Virtual Visiting?

• Reduces the need to physically visit a person when it is not necessary

• Better than a telephone call as a virtual visit is more personal, visual communication makes a call easier for both parties

• Can be used for befriending in order to reduce social isolation

• More virtual visits can be carried out in the space of a day, as opposed to physical visits, creating efficiencies within services and making budgets stretch further

• Helps to shape new ways of working using technology as a base for service re-engineering

Further Benefits….• Whilst broadband and technology is at the heart of

virtual visiting, the television is a medium that nearly all people are familiar with. This makes it simple to use and is more likely to be adopted than using other technologies such as computers

• Embodies the meaning of Telecare ‘Care at a distance’

• Can be used by friends and family to keep in touch with their loved ones

• More secure that SKYPE and other internet video conferencing systems

• Can be used as part of a Telecare & Telehealth provision to support a person to live independently

Jointly Funded Regional Pilot• Matched funding provided by West Midlands JIP and

Sandwell Adult Social Care

• Provision of full service for 40 service users and 6 defined service providers

• Full package includes, equipment, broadband installation both in service user’s property and service provider’s office, laptops and web cams, software to make and receive calls

• 6 Day turnaround on broadband installation and minimum 2 month contract. Broadband managed by Red Embedded and provider partner

• Aim to get units out in the field, demonstrate systems to other service providers, evaluate cost effectiveness to individual services and ascertain service user experience

What can Virtual Visiting be used for?

• Medication reminding / compliance calls• ‘Pop in’ or ‘Just Checking’ visits• ANY visits that do not require personal care or

physical contact• Health Promotion• Memory Training / Speech & Exercise Therapy • Interpreting or signing• GP consultations• Telehealth / vital signs monitoring• Wardens Visits• Catching up with friends and family• Completing assessments / questionnaires / surveys• Befriending visits reducing social isolation

Jointly Funded Regional Pilot• First units being deployed within Action For Hearing

Loss – Supporting vulnerable people living independently in the community

• Mental Health Trust to trial system to replace medication compliance visits

• Local GP Surgery to use system with patients in residential and nursing care homes to demonstrate the effectiveness and time saving that ‘virtual consultations’ can make

• Local Community Alarm Service to use system with problem clients who constantly press their pendants

• Reviewed packages or care and support within Learning Disabilities will utilise the systems as part of a combined support and technology package

safe

healthy

assured

independent

in your home