Artificial Intelligence, remote consultations and even robots will be increasingly used to support face-to-face contact in Staffordshire’s health and social care system.
The county’s public health leader is calling for a debate on the increasing use of technology in providing health and social care for the county’s ageing population.
Patients in north Staffordshire are benefitting from advancements in digital technology being used to connect patients with GPs at the click of a button.
The ‘Skype to Care Home’ programme aims to link care home residents and primary care clinicians by conducting video consultations through medium of Skype. There are currently 16 care homes and 12 GP practices in north Staffordshire taking part in the programme.
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The Nurse Manager in the Mental Health and Vascular Wellbeing Team at North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust (NSCHT) led a programme of work to introduce a digital application (app) into the care and treatment plans for service users at high risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The app was designed to digitally link the nursing and medical staff with the service user, enabling care closer to home, empowering service users, families and carers to have greater control and input into planning their treatment and care and improving service user experience and outcomes.
Shortlisted projects include Adult Safeguarding Enquiry cards, Integrated Community Services Team, Social Prescribing, Broseley Project for work using consumer smart technology to support health and social care needs of vulnerable people, night time carer support.
Patients are having their observations recorded more accurately, thanks to the swift implementation of a new electronic observations system. 'VitalPAC' assesses and analyses patient vital sign data to identify deterioration in a patient's health and also has the potential to automatically calculate a patient's early warning score (EWS), prompting clinicians to respond in line with hospital protocol. The team responsible for implementation worked tirelessly to make it operational in a record time of four weeks.
A new report is highlighting how technology, including social media, is helping patients in Staffordshire take control of their health.
The ‘Spotlight on Digital Health’ is now available on North Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent CCGs’ websites.
Many people are now living with long-term conditions such as diabetes or heart conditions. These need to be monitored regularly and lifestyle changes often need to be made to help. This is increasingly being done through app-based technology using a patient’s own mobile phone.
A study using funding from The Good Things Foundation has provided insight into how local people use the technology available.
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The scheme involves a dementia-friendly mug and plastic tumbler playing pre-set messages to patients not drinking regularly enough. They can be programmed with personalised messages from patients’ families and help ward staff keep a check.
Pregnant women with gestational diabetes in Shropshire will soon be able to manage their condition remotely by using a smartphone app.
The app will be used by The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) from December and means that women will be able to better manage their condition, and potentially reduce the number of visits they need to make to hospital.
Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent has received £1.2m of new NHS funding to utilise innovative digital technologies and treatments that could lead to thousands of fewer hospital admissions nationally.
The area is one of seven locations nationwide to become part of the NHS Test Beds programme. Clinicians at Royal Stoke University Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent will look specifically at how they can improve care for patients with chronic long-term heart failure.
The team at Royal Stoke will combine three new digital technologies to help reduce A&E admissions for patients with chronic long-term heart failure. They will do this by coordinating community-based clinical interventions with patients who report deteriorating symptoms.
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The home assistance scheme, currently called ‘The Broseley Project’ as it’s being piloted in the town, is a collaboration between Shropshire Council, The Lady Forester Centre, University Centre Shrewsbury, the local GP, and the community, along with global tech companies Hitachi, Microsoft and Amazon.
The scheme aims to see how consumer technology such as smartwatches, voice-activated devices and messaging apps can be used or adapted to support the health and social care needs of vulnerable people.
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Pioneering technology developed in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire has been selected as one of the Top 70 health innovations by a website dedicated to NHS top tech.
News from our partners Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin (Age UK STW)
The spring meeting of the Shropshire Older People’s Assembly (SOPA) is on Tuesday 17 April 2018 at University Centre Shrewsbury.
With pressures on health and social care, the meeting is themed around alternative medicine and assistive technology in the home to raise awareness of the opportunities available to older people in Shropshire.