Cheshire tests telehealth vital signs monitor

Two Cheshire care agencies have teamed up with a housing trust to pilot the Genesis machine, a new telehealth product that monitors patients with long term conditions from home.

Cheshire County Council Social Services Department and Central Cheshire Primary Care Trust have partnered with Weaver Vale Housing Trust in the venture.

Weaver Vale, which manages thousands of homes in Central Cheshire, has been working on telehealth initiatives for six months and feels ready to unveil the machine to its tenants, with the aid of the PCT.

The trust says that the product is ‘cutting-edge technology that could transform the way patients with long-term conditions are cared for.’

Lena Dewsbury, Weaver Vale’s telecare manager told EHI: “Studies have shown that patients do not want to stay in hospitals for treatment, they want to go home. We provide sheltered housing to 3000 people and believe that the Genesis machine can help some of our tenants manage their illnesses from the comfort of their home.”

The machine focuses on chronic disease management, providing care outside of the hospital setting and encouraging patients to self manage and avoid exacerbations of their condition.

It allows them to measure their own vital signs, such as their heart rate, temperature and blood pressure. The reading is then transmitted to a control centre, manned round-the-clock and is checked by trained staff using a colour-coded triage system.

A green reading will show that everything is fine, whilst a red reading will alert staff to contact the patient’s clinician for advice on how to treat the patient.

Dewsbury added: “The Telehealth equipment enables patients to keep more control of their condition and helps reduce anxiety, with fewer hospital visits, but ultimately the peace of mind that someone is monitoring their condition.”

Staff use the readings to prioritise patients and if they are over the limits set by the patient’s clinician, the area community matron will asses the data and offer the necessary care. Patients can also use a designated Careline to communicate with staff.

The designated monitoring office will be in the Weaver Vale head office in Northwich, Cheshire and can monitor up to 200 machines.

Martin Jones, Weaver Vale’s community care manager added: “If a patient’s condition deteriorates unchecked, it can lead to an emergency hospital admission. Patients can have their own conditions monitored through Telehealth giving clinicians more chances to spot warning signs of deterioration.”

Studies in the USA showed that the technology could cut emergency hospital admissions in some groups of patients with chronic conditions by almost 50%, saving a total of 990 bed days with 2.7 acute bed days consistently freed.

Weaver Vale says that it is excited that the PCT and council has agreed to test the Telehealth technology on selected patients and hopes it will show other trusts the potential benefits of offering care from home.

The pilot will be run over the next three months, and Weaver Vale hope to have had at least 20 of their tenants being referred onto the scheme by then.

They have asked Dr Roger Beech from Keele University to undertake an independent review of the pilot, and hope to see the Genesis machine rolled out across Cheshire, if it proves to be successful.

Vance Gallagher, telecare project manager at the council said: “We have been impressed with the technology, and felt that the initiative was worth funding because, with the help of the community matrons at Central Cheshire PCT, we can cut the number of people coming into A & E and help them live safer.”