Telecare pilot shows £4.7m reduction in cost

The positive impact of telecare services continues to be highlighted with the results of a 12-month evaluation in Hillingdon showing a 50% cut in residential care home admissions and a £4.7m reduction in costs.

Hillingdon Council has revealed the results of its TeleCareLine and reablement services, operated in conjunction with Tunstall and aimed at reducing dependence on long-term residential care and enabling people to remain living independently at home for as long as possible.

With the third highest proportion of gross expenditure for older people on residential and nursing care placements in London, the local authority wants to shift the proportion of the budget spent in these areas by focusing instead on home-based support, risk prevention and early intervention.

The council has made significant progress over the past 12 months by surpassing its target of 750 new TeleCareLine users in 2011/12, with more than 1,120 additional people benefiting in year one. It is expected this will rise to a total of 3,000 additional people by 2015.

we are proud to provide a service to Hillingdon that has created a unified, preventative telecare service to encourage early intervention and support independence

And an evaluation of 195 service users with enhanced packages of telecare support over the last 12 months, found that in 48% of cases telecare delayed the need for further services, a further 42% resulted in a smaller homecare package, and in 10% of cases a delay in residential care placements has occurred. As a result admissions of older people to residential placements have halved and are at their lowest level since April 2008.

The daughter of one TeleCareLine user told BBH : “TeleCareLine saved my mother’s life when she was able to press the button while collapsing during a stroke, enabling prompt emergency medical attention.

Another user is 96-year-old Arthur, who lives with his wife, Pamela. He has vascular dementia, which has led to instances of him leaving home, becoming confused and being unable to return. TeleCareline provided a portable motion sensor linked to a pager, which alerts his wife if he tries to leave the house during the day. The pager also tells Pamela if her husband leaves his bed at night so she can help him go to the bathroom, avoiding accidents.

it is about positioning telecare at the forefront of our care provision to ensure no one is admitted to residential care without being afforded the opportunity for telecare support at home

She said: “I now feel rested and have more freedom around the home. I tell all my friends about this amazing equipment and I wouldn’t be without it”.

Linda Sanders, corporate director for social care health and housing at Hillingdon Council, said the early results from the project show improvements in care and lower costs.

She added: “When I joined Hillingdon Council some 18 months ago, we set an ambitious target to reduce reliance on institutional care across all adult social care user groups from 51% of our budget in March 2011, to an average of 30% over the period 2011-15. We have made strong progress in year one of the four-year programme.

“For us, it is about positioning telecare at the forefront of our care provision to ensure no one is admitted to residential care without being afforded the opportunity for telecare support at home. Our partnership with Tunstall marks a significant milestone into how we are improving the lives of Hillingdon residents.”

As part of its objectives, the council is seeking to provide more integrated care for its older residents, working with health services, voluntary organisations and other local bodies to develop a personalised care service that could keep people living in their own homes for longer.

The TeleCareLine service is part of a mainstream offer and is free to anyone over the age of 85 or as part of a reablement package. In the last year, the service received more than 165,000 calls from around 5,000 residents now using telecare. The service provides varying levels of support, ranging from the standard service package to the highest level of assistance, with full access to a range of telecare sensors, such as fall detectors and bed occupancy sensors. A 24-hour, 365 days a year responder service is also available to support people who do not have relatives able to respond to emergency calls.

David Cockayne, health and social care director at Tunstall, said: “The deployment of telecare in Hillingdon has enhanced reablement for people across the area and delivered significant cost savings. Telecare provides vital support to residents with a range of care needs, and with excellent leadership from an in-house monitoring and installation team and mobile response service, we are proud to provide a service to Hillingdon that has created a unified, preventative telecare service to encourage early intervention and support independence.”