Cheshire’s first at-scale telehealth programme aims to improve patient self management

Royal Philips, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and NHS West Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group have announced the launch of the Supported Self Care Champion Project in Cheshire.

This partnership between the three organisations is designed to provide state-of-the-art telehealth support programmes and equipment to residents in the region.

The Supported Self Care Champion Project is designed to encourage greater independence for people living with multiple long-term health conditions and complex needs. The project aims to provide a total of 960 individuals with a customised telehealth programme that addresses three levels of need: 120 participants with high-level support needs, 240 participants with mid-level support needs, and 600 low-level support need participants, initially from the Lache cluster of four GP practices covering a population of approximately 34,000.

The initial project will last for one year with the aim of increasing user confidence to safely manage their health and retain at-home independence. In doing so the project hopes to improve patient experiences and simultaneously relieve pressures on the local health system.

Dr Lesley Appleton, West Cheshire CCG’s clinical lead for long-term conditions, said: “We are delighted to support this project as it reflects our members’ interests in the field of self care, supported with the use of innovative new technologies. This is a great opportunity to generate positive results for our population and we look forward to receiving the first outcomes from the project over the coming year.”

The partnership will provide a personalised, technology-enabled supported self-care service, centred around a clinically-led multi-disciplinary hub. The project will look at how to scale the use of tailored packages of technology, education and clinician support to empower appropriate patients to confidently adopt self management. It is hoped that these packages will also provide workforce benefits by embedding care pathways with more collaborative patient-clinician exchanges.

This is a great opportunity to generate positive results for our population and we look forward to receiving the first outcomes from the project over the coming year

Sheena Cumiskey, chief executive of Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are excited to be working in partnership with West Cheshire CCG and Philips on this new project. Our hope is that this will provide us with unique insights on how best to roll out integrated care support across our area.”

The project will also encourage users such as GPs, district nurses and patients, to become project champions. The champions will offer small-scale peer-to-peer activities with the aim of extending the supported self-care model across Cheshire if successful.

Alan Davies from Philips said: “This progressive initiative aims to empower patients in Cheshire to better manage their own health. Building on evidence and experience from previous telehealth projects in both the UK and the US, we want to improve health outcomes for people living locally with long-term conditions while ensuring we make the best use of valuable healthcare resources. We are delighted to be playing an integral part in supporting this project.”