Telehealth enables individuals to manage their own long-term condition effectively at home and can result in early diagnosis of unforeseeable health related problems as well as empowering patients to take a more active role in their care.
Joanne Denny, Telehealth Triage Nurse, Tameside & Glossop Community Healthcare
The Challenge
Healthcare is facing significant demographic change, and an increasing prevalence of long-term conditions. Within the climate of finite resources, there is an ever-increasing emphasis on providing patients with the support and skills to self-manage, and for healthcare services to provide timely interventions that promote wellbeing, reduce morbidity and more efficient use of healthcare resources.
Could investing in the remote monitoring of patients using telehealth, as part of the Long-Term Conditions QIPP programme, result in improved clinical outcomes and reduced healthcare costs including:
- Fewer unplanned hospital admissions and reduced demand on unscheduled care
- Efficiency gains from reduced visits and increased capacity for case managers
- Improved medication compliance
- Support the delivery of high quality of care to patients with long-term conditions?
What We Did
Tunstall has worked in partnership with Tameside and Glossop Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Tameside Metropolitan Council (TMBC) and Tameside and Glossop Community Healthcare to deliver a telehealth service since 2010. The initial deployment saw a total of 60 patients using Tunstall’s mymedic and icp triagemanager solutions, supported by a dedicated team of nurses from Tameside and Glossop Community Healthcare, the Long-Term Conditions Management Team (LTCMT). Over 250 patients are currently being supported.
Key statistics
The service has resulted in:
- Hospital admissions for 221 patients reduced from 122 pre-telehealth to 75 post-telehealth over 12 months
- 75 patients discharged earlier than average bed stay
- Reduced frequency of some home visits by the LTCMT
- Inappropriate home visits by the LTCMT reduced
- Earlier intervention enabled, avoiding more complex care
Results
The service has enhanced care provision for patients with Long Term Conditions and helped the Trust meet QIPP targets.
Using telehealth has enabled a higher level of support to be provided to patients with chronic conditions in their own homes. By empowering them to monitor their own condition and encouraging them to be more proactive in managing their own health, patients can lead a better quality of life, feel more confident that their condition is under control and avoid frequent stays in hospital.
The service has resulted in:
- Reduced frequency of some home visits by the LTCMT
- Reduced inappropriate home visits
- Frequent patient monitoring has identified subtle deteriorations in clinical parameters which has prompted an earlier intervention, avoiding more complex care being required
- Undiagnosed pathology has been managed and/or referred to the appropriate clinician
- Remedial treatments such as changes to medication have benefitted patients enrolled.
Data from April 2014, based on 221 telehealth patients over 12 months, showed:
- 122 hospital admissions (55%) for these patients up to 6 months prior to their telehealth installation, which reduced to 75 admissions (34%) following the introduction of telehealth
- Of the 75 patients who have been admitted post installation, 38 were not admitted in the first 2 years of installation
- All 75 patients admitted were discharged earlier than the average bed stay for the condition
- Only 1 patient was admitted to hospital within the first 12 months of installation
