‘Give patients smartphones’ call

Giving cheap smartphones to patients living in remote and rural areas has been suggested as a way of providing faster and more cost effective care.

App designer Geoff Wilcock told BBC Radio Scotland’s Out of Doors programme it would give people access to software that could be created for the NHS.

Mr Wilcox said apps could aid in consultations and cut waiting times.

The Scottish Centre for Telehealth and Telecare said patients expected greater use of technology.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) held a workshop on mobile phone applications last month.

The agency said that by 2014 it was expected that some 77 billion apps will have been downloaded from the Android and Apple phone markets.

Mr Wilcock, who took part in the workshop, said the NHS could provide patients with low-cost smartphones.

He said: “I am a diabetic and I quite easily sympathise with anyone who has to go on a two to three hour trip for a 20 minute meeting with a clinical nurse, or a doctor.

“Very expensive or valuable clinicians are also driving out for long periods to spend equally short times with the patient.”

Read the rest of this article here

London, 24^th April 2012: Allocate Software has been working with two Health Boards in Scotland to assess the impact that Allocate’s HealthRoster e-rostering solution can deliver. A bespoke pilot programme has been carried out at NHS Dumfries and Galloway and an in-depth roster assessment has been conducted in NHS Grampian. Both organisations have recognised the significant efficiency and financial savings that could be achieved through adopting the innovative technology.

As today’s NHS tries to adapt to a radically different operating environment; with ongoing financial and the wider world changing fast. Two forward thinking Scottish Health Boards NHS Grampian and NHS Dumfries and Galloway decided to explore the operational benefits that could be achieved through e-rostering.

Talking of the reasons why they requested a roster assessment to be conducted by Allocate, Neil Buchanan, Efficiency and Productivity Manager, from NHS Grampian explains; “Following several local reviews of manual rosters we requested Allocate to undertake a roster analysis of a number of wards using HealthRoster.  The detailed results of the analysis identified and quantified the benefits that could be derived from Allocate’s solution.  In addition to the potential efficiency gains which corresponded to 0.8WTE per ward, NHS Grampian was impressed with the way that HealthRoster facilitated the most effective use of available manpower thereby ensuring the provision of quality and safe care to patients”. 

Chris Sanderson, Efficiency & Productivity Manager, from NHS Dumfries and Galloway adds; “We ran a pilot of Allocate’s approach which highlighted demonstrable benefits, and also identified how we could improve our rostering practices by replacing existing manual processes. Using HealthRoster’s KPI solution we could view and analyse all parts of the Board to see where and how we could make tangible savings by using our staff better. It also gave us the ability to view operations eight weeks into the future enabling us to take a highly proactive stance on workforce management for the first time.”

Paul Scandrett, Director of Healthcare sums up; “For any organisation looking to achieve productivity improvements through its workforce, HealthRoster enables a proactive approach to workforce management. Building on our success across the UK we have been able to share best practice, innovative approaches and the key capability to benchmark how well trusts are performing by staff group and across other trusts.”

New scans will predict heart attacks before they happen, hope doctors

A NEW technique which could help predict heart attacks before they happen has been pioneered by Scottish doctors.

The method developed by medics at Edinburgh University combines the use of CT scans and special X-ray images to pick up dangerous levels of the calcium that blocks arteries.

Tests on more than 100 patients found the state-of-the-art pictures successfully identified those most at risk of cardiovascular disease.

It is the first time the processes that cause heart attacks have been captured directly in the coronary arteries.

Dr Marc Dweck, of Edinburgh University’s Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences, said: “If we can identify patients at high risk of a heart attack earlier, we can then use intensive drug treatments and perhaps procedures such as stents to reduce the chances of them having a heart attack.”

There are nearly 2.7 million people living with coronary heart disease in the UK, and it kills 88,000 people each year.

Dr Dweck said: “The first presentation of cardiovascular disease is often a heart attack or sudden death.

“If we can get to these people before this happens, it is easy to see how we could save a great number of lives.”

Read the rest of this article here: Early warning of Heart attack

Read the clinical paper here: CLINICAL RESEARCH: CARDIAC IMAGING

Health Informatics Scotland 2012 conference programme announced

I am delighted to be able to share with you our programme for 2012.  We have a fantastic array of high level speakers including 15 directors / heads of IT or clinical leads, and 9 overseas presenters highlighting the international reputation our conference has developed in its short three year history.

Speakers from Government (with Derek Feeley CEO of NHS Scotland, and Paul Rhodes eHealth Director) to NHS leaders and esteemed academics (including the Chief Scientist).  With talks arranged across four themes relevant to healthcare in Scotland in 2012 you can be sure of a great event!

So watch out for delegate registration when its announced.  Get the dates in your diary 20 – 21 September 2012 in Glasgow.  Book it!

Download the Health Informatics Scotland 2012 programme here

Paul Woolman

Chair Health Informatics Scotland 2012 (a not for profit event run by BCS Health Scotland www.hiscotland.info )

Caring for people with dementia

Dundee and St Andrews researchers develop a communication support system for older people with dementia

As one result of their collaborative work over twelve years, a multidisciplinary team from Dundee and St Andrews Universities has produced CIRCA, a system which  takes over the job of prompting and supporting the communication of a person with dementia and restores an ability to have satisfying interactions with relatives, friends and carers.  CIRCA gives the person with dementia and their conversation partner touchscreen access to a hypermedia structure holding a large collection of reminiscence content : photos, film clips, and music.

In a session with CIRCA, the person with dementia and a carer or relative enjoy exploring the material together via the touchscreen, and the person with dementia has their long-term memory occasionally prompted by what they are experiencing.  In dementia, although working (short-term) memory can be severely compromised, long-term memories can be relatively intact.

Norman Alm, of the development team, said  “We had hoped to develop a system that supported an effortless reminiscence session.  CIRCA certainly met that goal.  However, two of our findings were quite unexpected.  With CIRCA we observed people with dementia being able to take more control of the direction of the conversation, because of the touchscreen access to an easily understood structure, and also because of the way we organised the material with multiple ways of moving through it, modelling what happens when we have a natural conversation. We also found that, for people with dementia, a rich collection of carefully selected  generic material can prompt personal recollections actually better than personal material.”

Dundee and St Andrews Universities have set up a spinout company called  CIRCA Connect to bring CIRCA to the market, and make it available to the people who need it.

More information is available at :

www.computing.dundee.ac.uk/projects/circa
www.circaconnect.co.uk

• Chloe Herrick (Computerworld)
• 29 February, 2012 10:19

Australia’s peak body of general practitioners (GPs) has given the Federal Government a pat on the back following the implementation of its telehealth incentive scheme last July, labelling the project a success in Western Australia.

The scheme, which operates under the government’s $620 million telehealth initiative, offers GPs who provide videolink consultations to patients in remote areas a $6000 one-off incentive payment to provide their first telehealth consultation to patients. The scheme also provides Medicare rebates to both city specialists and healthcare professionals who are physically with their patients during consultations.

To encourage bulk billing for services, the scheme also offers practitioners an extra $20 for each videolink service charged in that manner for the 12 months from 1 July.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) said the initiative has broken down distance and cost barriers for rural and remote patients and enabled them access to a greater range of subsidised consultations.

RACGP WA Faculty Chair, Associate Professor Frank Jones, said video consultations and short message services (SMS) were integral to making healthcare accessible to all Australians.

“Western Australia’s vast geographical area lends itself to wide population dispersion, with a large proportion of the community residing outside of major metropolitan hubs,” Jones said in a statement. “Patients who previously had to drive hundreds of kilometres to receive healthcare, can now ‘see’ their doctor via video conference from the convenience of their own home.”

However, RACGP Telehealth Standards Taskforce chairman, Dr Mike Civil, said the full range of telehealth benefits have not yet been realised, along with opportunities for telehealth to expand into aged care facilities and into the homes of those living with disabilities.

“For many members of the community, including the elderly and disabled, travelling large distances to receive healthcare is not always an option,” Civil said in a statement. “This also goes both ways, with GPs not always able to complete regular home or community visits when time and resources are limited.”

Follow Chloe Herrick on Twitter: @chloe_CW

(Barcelona / Oslo – February 28, 2012) Based on the explosive growth in global mobile phone penetration, a technology revolution is quickly gaining pace in healthcare. Around the world, healthcare systems are overburdened, costly and incapable of meeting the needs of a growing population. According to a new study from The Boston Consulting Group and Telenor Group, mobile health technology can offer sizeable benefits to all countries, lead to economic growth and promise a better life for individuals.

Among the key findings:

• The necessary infrastructure is already in everyone’s hands: 7.4 billion mobile subscriptions projected by 2015
• The technology richness and network capacity is sufficient, both on simple feature phones and on smart devices
• Currently, more than 500 mobile health projects are taking place around the world
• Costs in elderly care can be reduced by 25% with mobile healthcare
• Maternal and perinatal mortality can be reduced by 30%
• Twice as many rural patients can be reached per doctor
• Tuberculosis treatment compliance can be improved by 30-70%
• 30% of smartphone users are likely to use “wellness apps” by 2015
• Costs related to data collection can be reduced by 24%
• Smartphone is the most popular technology among doctors since the stethoscope

The study “Socio-Economic Impact of mHealth ” – commissioned by Telenor Group and carried out by The Boston Consulting Group -  is a comprehensive survey of the impact that mHealth initiatives can have in 12 countries. The countries are grouped into three clusters, each with a different set of primary healthcare challenges. Where countries in one cluster primarily face challenges with non-communicable diseases and quickly growing system costs, countries in another cluster struggle with maternal/child health, communicable diseases and limited access to health care. What unites them all is that mobile health technology can improve the quality, reach and effectiveness of services while reducing costs and the overall system burden.

Telenor Group has launched a number of mobile health initiatives across its markets. In Norway, an assisted living project helps the elderly stay longer at home through mobile alarm systems. In Thailand, a mobile text messaging service provides epidemic surveillance. In Bangladesh and Pakistan, a service called Healthline provides patients with a simple number to dial for both serious and non-serious medical needs.  In India, mothers can obtain critical information about prenatal health via their phones. In Montenegro, a joint project with the EU provides a service for remotely located elderly people, enabled by one touch on a button on their mobile handset. In Serbia, mobile health technology is used to increase the quality of medical registration and reporting for the Roma community.

Action is needed

“Mobile health is already a reality, with hundreds of projects launched worldwide. However, many projects are struggling with achieving scale. Both regulatory actions and ecosystem collaboration is required to create the necessary scale. We need to commit to common standards, increase access to mobile services and document the impact of mobile health. Finally,
Governments can use their procurement processes to drive further innovation in mobile health services,” says Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO, Telenor Group.

“The technological development and successful pilots around the world demonstrate that the time for mHealth has come. Accelerating adoption will require orchestrating multiple stakeholders, including the alignment of incentives for healthcare professionals to adopt mHealth,” says Knut Haanæs, Global Leader, Sustainability Practice, The Boston Consulting Group.

By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News, Vancouver

The futuristic idea that microchips could be implanted under a patient’s skin to control the release of drugs has taken another step forward.

US scientists have been testing just such a device on women with the bone-wasting disease osteoporosis.

The chip was inserted in their waist and activated by remote control.

A clinical trial, reported in Science Translational Medicine, showed the chip could administer the correct doses and that there were no side effects.

The innovation has also been discussed here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

One of the designers, Prof Robert Langer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), claimed the programmable nature of the device opened up fascinating new avenues for medicine.

“You could literally have a pharmacy on a chip,” he said. “This study used the device for the treatment of osteoporosis. However, there are many other applications where this type of microchip approach could improve treatment outcomes for patients, such as multiple sclerosis, vaccine delivery, for cancer treatment and for pain management.”

The work is described as the first in-human testing of a wirelessly controlled drug delivery microchip. The technology at its core has been in development for more than 15 years.

Read the rest of the Article HERE

Organised by The King’s Fund and the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC), this annual event brings together key speakers from around the world to showcase innovations and best practice in the deployment of telehealth and telecare. In addition to the physical three day congress in London we are also running this congress as a virtual event in order to share learning on a larger scale.

The congress will feature results and learning from the UK Whole System Demonstrator programme (the largest radomised controlled trial of telehealth and telecare in the world), and UK and international case studies, providing you with insight and best practice into the use of telehealth and telecare.

This virtual event will allow you to watch all of the main plenary presentations live; visit exhibition stands and watch videos, download brochures and chat live online to stand staff; visit and chat online to other participants in the networking lounge; and download resources from the resource centre.

How the virtual event works

Congress lobby

Once you log in, you’ll find yourself in the congress lobby where a video greeting will welcome you. Clearly marked entry points will point you to the various show locations, Exhibition Hall, Auditorium etc. Along the top of the screen is the Navigation bar for quick access to area locations.

Exhibition Hall

“Walk” through our stands in the 3-D exhibition hall. You can move to the left and right in the hall by moving your mouse accordingly. There is also a text based exhibitor directory for those wanting to get to a stand quickly. Hovering over a stand will display more information about the company, while clicking on it will take you right into the booth.

Exhibition Stand

Just like a real stand, exhibitors set up their stand with company and product literature, videos and more. Stands are staffed with company representatives to answer your questions online.

Auditorium

Visit the auditorium to watch all the main plenary presentations live. You can also submit questions for presenters during the live sessions online and via Twitter. If you miss any of the live presentations you can catch up with these in the auditorium.

Network Lounge

Engage in an ongoing group chat among other delegates or participate in scheduled group chats for focused discussions on specific topics. Use the message box to exchange emails or V-Cards with other attendees, and invite them for one-on-one chats.

Resource Centre

Find all the downloadable content here – static information such as case studies or white papers in addition to webcasts or any other presentations. Use the search functions to quickly find information by topic/type. You can view while you’re here or save to your briefcase to view later.

My preferences

After logging in, we recommend setting up your profile, avatar etc. (My preferences on right side of the congress lobby navigation bar) to share information about yourself with other attendees via your V-card. Your profile is a great tool to introduce yourself so be sure to take advantage of this networking tool. This is also where you can set your avatar, privacy options and change your password.

Congress format

Day one: Pre-congress seminar: Evaluating telehealth and telecare projects

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Day two: Telehealth Congress

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Day two: Telecare and Whole System Demonstrator Congress

Thursday 8 March 2012

Get more details and register for the International Telehealth and Telecare Congress HERE