Suffolk County Council’s digital care programme results in £10m savings
Suffolk County Council’s Cassius was launched in July 2021 and since its introduction has saved Suffolk residents a collective 67,825 days in care homes, avoided 400 ambulance call outs and saved £8.8m in social care funding and £480,000 for the local NHS.
Cassius is a partnership between Suffolk County Council, Alcove and Rethink Partners.
It uses a range of care technologies to support users to live their normal lives around the home, and to enable their loved ones to check in with them easily. It does this with video carephones, smart watches, monitoring sensors and fall detection wearables.
The equipment also gives care professionals valuable insights into people’s habits and vulnerabilities, which is helping them to deliver more personalised, empowering and less intrusive care packages and at the same time reducing costly interventions and deteriorations.
Cllr Beccy Hopfensperger, Suffolk County Council cabinet member for adult care, said: “These latest figures are testimony to the brilliant work the whole Cassius team is doing to embed digital technologies that support people to live the lives they want.
“We don’t believe in technology for the sake of it; every referral is carefully considered to improve the lives of our residents and their families. Increased capacity and savings worth £10m to stretched care and health systems are an added bonus. It really is a win: win situation.”
Cassius has also won a hat-trick of awards recently. At the Health Tech Digital Awards 2023, it was named Best Innovation Project of the Year; it was awarded Best New Assistive Technology Solution of the Year at the Assistive Technology Awards 2023, while Cassius+ won Best Innovation Project of the Year at the same awards.
At the Integrated Health Awards, Cassius was a finalist for Digital Solution of the Year, while Cassius+ was finalist in the categories of Most Promising Pilot and Making an Impact. More recently, the program has been announced as a finalist in the Digital Leaders 100 Awards its work within Suffolk.
Cassius+ is currently being trialled in West Suffolk, and introduces additional health monitoring and assessment tools to the original Cassius. These include blood pressure monitors, oximeters, scales and thermometers.
The more advanced digital service aims to integrate health and care technology into a single platform, which will target the most frail people in the county.
Cassius is also planning to develop a digital and data-led social work practice to enrich the service it offers residents.
