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TECHNOLOGYAlso in this section: p14 University’s hologram | p15 Renfrewshire wins | p16 Technology partners

Janette Hughes, project manager of the Wellness and Health Innovation (WHI) project, on the future of health delivery in Scotland

Human touch

The healthcare industry is facing major reform, not only in Scotland but across the world. This is due to a demographic shift that is seeing people living longer and resulting in a rise of long-term health conditions – a challenge that could be as big as global warming. ➔

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14 Holyrood 16 May 2011

TECHNOLOGY

These rapidly growing costs and pressure on health and social care budgets are forcing new healthcare models to emerge. The priority for healthcare in Scotland is shifting from the traditional model of treating illness to prevention and independent living.Consequently, as healthcare moves away from the health and social care providers to consumers taking ownership of their own health needs, there is an urgent demand for products and services that allow people to live in their own homes for as long as possible. However, with these challenges come opportunities. Scottish technology companies are already playing a leading role in supporting this new healthcare market by developing and delivering telehealth and telecare devices and services. It is estimated that 90 per cent of older people would like to live in their own home rather than go into care. Telecare could prevent 160,000 people from entering residential care per year, with potential cost savings of £2bn a year.One key project is making significant impact in this market and helping SMEs develop new innovations and technologies to maximise on these opportunities. The Wellness and Health Innovation (WHI) project is a national initiative designed to support Scottish SMEs developing innovative products, services or applications for the growing wellness and health market and has over 200 companies developing innovative solutions in line with preventions and independent assistive living needs.The use of technology alongside traditional forms of support can add significant benefits in terms of the quality of care and the efficiency of delivery. It is often thought that older people are frightened to use technology, however, research shows this is not the case. According to Parks Associates’ consumer survey, 43 per cent of people 65 and over have an internet connection, 75 per cent use a mobile phone, and 83 per cent have pay TV services like cable and satellite. While this population is not as tech-savvy as younger age groups, their growing contact with technologies and technology-enabled services will see them demand services and products that are connected and they can take an active part in. The WHI project has been working with a company that has developed just that. OmniQare’s ‘touch button home hub’ offers a simple but comprehensive touch screen system for the over-65s. It provides a visual way of managing home automation, telecare, telehealth, digital entertainment and telecoms through an all-in-one touch screen computer. It extends an individual’s quality of life by providing them with a way of keeping in

touch with family, friends, medical providers and carers, even if they are housebound. The WHI project works with a range of partners including the Government, NHS, universities, blue chip corporate partners. This partnership network enabled OmniQare to get into the network of care providers and meet key decision makers, helping them to grow their business successfully and deliver the final product to market.Research conducted by the WHI project predicts the development of health products will follow the pattern of new technology and the growth of digital media. It is poised, as one of the world’s major growing markets, to present real opportunities to build global companies in Scotland.Scotland has two great areas of skills and capabilities – life science and enabling technologies. Bringing these two areas together will support the future requirements of health and social care delivery. The wellness and health sector is a new emerging sector for the Scottish economy and there is significant opportunity in this market for entrepreneurs to develop innovative technologies to service this sector.Scotland is also very well placed to market its teleheathcare expertise to other countries. It has internationally renowned and varied research capabilities and it offers the perfect test bed for Scotland’s technology businesses to respond to the challenges and opportunities of an ageing population that has high long-term health problems (two million people out of a total population of five million).More importantly, for carers and families surrounding the patient, technology will provide the tools to manage the people they care for in their own homes. This will allow them to be more independent, reduce overall costs, keep connected with friends, family and medical providers and thus improve the quality of life for many people in Scotland.

Hologram’s health potentialA team at the University of Arizona has developed a new type of holographic telepresence that allows the projection of a three-dimensional, moving image without the need for special eyewear such as 3D glasses or other auxiliary devices.The technology is likely to take applications ranging from telemedicine, advertising, updatable 3D maps and entertainment to a new level. The journal Nature chose the technology to feature on its cover last autumn.“Holographic telepresence means we can record a three-dimensional image in one location and show it in another location, in real-time, anywhere in the world,” said team leader Nasser Peyghambarian. “Holographic stereography has been capable of providing excellent resolution and depth reproduction on large-scale 3D static images but has been missing dynamic updating capability until now.”“At the heart of the system is a screen made from a novel photorefractive material, capable of refreshing holograms every two seconds, making it the first to achieve a speed that can be described as quasi-real-time,” said Pierre-Alexandre Blanche, an assistant research professor in the UA College of Optical Sciences and lead author of the Nature paper.The prototype device uses a 10-inch screen, but Peyghambarian’s group is already successfully testing a much larger version with a 17-inch screen. The image is recorded using an array of regular cameras, each of which views the object from a different perspective. The more cameras that are used, the more refined the final holographic presentation will appear.Telemedicine is a potential application: “Surgeons at different locations around the world can observe in 3D, in real time, and participate in the surgical procedure,” the authors wrote.

Janette Hughes

My hunch is that having all this ‘don’t do’ information

out there may have ironic consequences

Oxford University researcher Brian Erp speaking in Glasgow about a study suggesting no smoking signs

could encourage smoking.

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In service To help meet challenges identified in protecting vulnerable people and supporting independent living, we developed Renfrewshire Care 24 as a service that provides flexible, responsive and accessible care services 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. The team promotes safety and security as well as offering protection from harm but more importantly, the services provide choice and control to the service user and their carers on how and when assistance is provided.The focus of the service is to look after people in the community and to develop partnerships with other agencies to enhance care and wellbeing. Renfrewshire Care 24 consists of home care workers, community alarm responders, business support, service coordinators and managers working in collaboration with a range of partner organisations to provide better care at home, improve personal

safety and reduce pressure on emergency services.From a single point of access, Renfrewshire Care 24 provides; rapid response service that helps prevent unnecessary hospital admissions, overnight home care, community alarms and 24 hour responder service, telecare dementia service, telecare falls service, telecare medication management service, telehealth COPD, out of hours management support to home care workers and service users and out of hours single point of access for GPs and other health professionals to refer in emergencies.Technology sits at the heart of Renfrewshire Care 24. Initially there were significant barriers to overcome due to scepticism about using telecare to help support people at home and fears about services being unavailable or unresponsive. However, the hard work of the team in emphasising the benefits of applying technology with care has won over service users, carers and professionals to the extent that several hospital consultants

consider the service to be a crucial part of the patient’s discharge package. The demand for support through Renfrewshire Care 24 is continually growing and there are currently 3,300 people in receipt of community alarm and telecare services.Performance is monitored both internally and through independent evaluation to inform strategic development plans. Through independent research and evaluation for the Scottish Government Joint Improvement Team, Renfrewshire Care 24 features in the top six performing telecare partnerships in Scotland. By June 2009 Renfrewshire had contributed almost £3m to savings identified in overnight care, hospital bed days saved through supported discharge and care home bed days saved. This represents 15 per cent of the total savings identified for all 32 telecare partnerships in Scotland.

Doreen Watson, Service Manager, Renfrewshire Care 24

In 2011 our priorities will be:• FurtherworktohelperadicateScotland’sinequalitiesinhealth

• Continuedsupportforaminimumpriceperunitofalcoholandincreasedactiontotacklesmoking,obesityanddrugmisuseinScotland

• GPstohavemoretimewiththeirpatients,especiallyinareasofseveredeprivation

• FiveyeartrainingprogrammeforGPstoensurepatientsgetthebestqualityofservice

• ImprovementstotheprovisionofEndofLifeCare

• Improvedcommunicationbetweengeneralpracticeandhospitals

• AhealthservicewhereaimsandoutcomesoftreatmentarejointlydevelopedbypatientsandtheirGPs

www.rcgp.org.uk

RCGPScotlandiscommittedtodeliveringthehighestpossiblestandardsofgeneralmedicalpracticeandexcellenceinpatientcare.