Councils in England guided on developing services in emerging technology area
The Department of Health has given councils much-awaited guidance on using £80 million of funding made available for implementing telecare projects.
The move comes a year after the Government announced the Preventative Technology Grant, designed to fund councils to provide telecare for 160,000 vulnerable people in England.
Some £30m of pump-priming funds will be available in 2006/7, plus £50m the following year. It is also possible for clusters of local authorities to pool this initial investment.
The Department's guidance released on 19 July states that the grant, which will not be ring-fenced, should be used "to increase the numbers of people who are supported to remain independent with telecare."
Telecare schemes typically involve the use of remote sensing or surveillance technology to monitor vulnerable people in their homes, triggering an alert to an external party when there is cause of concern.
The guidance points to recent high-profile reports, included one by the Audit Commission, which have highlighted telecare's potential to enable vulnerable people to live independently, in control and with dignity for longer.
The Department also sees the funding as helping to reduce the need for residential or nursing care, with resultant cost-savings. According to Care Services Minister Liam Byrne, the number of people requiring community-based health and social care support is expected to increase considerably over the next decade.
He says in the foreword to the new guide: "It is not realistic to plan to deliver care and support services in the way we do at present. We must embrace new ways of working both to meet the diverse needs and aspirations of people using services to take full advantage of new and developing technologies."
The DH adds that work is underway to produce a "step-by-step" guide for councils on procuring telecare systems.
The document itself outlines some basic considerations for authorities wishing to deliver telecare. Councils, it states, should develop a local strategy, showing how telecare fits with other services, frameworks and priorities.
Other issues include staff training, possible sensitivities with data sharing, as well as how telecare applications will integrate with systems developed by the NHS national IT programme. A number of these are dealt with in more detail in an accompanying 'Telecare Implementation Guide'.
Ethical Issues
The Audit Commission report mentioned earlier called for a public debate about the complex ethical issues that telecare raises, such as surveillance of elderly people and possible loss of privacy - something that it is safe to say has not happened.
While public acceptability of telecare delivery will be an important factor in successful implementation, the DH has barely touched upon this issue.
Related Links
Department of Health: Building Telecare in England.
For telecare factsheets and the Telecare Implementation Guide see www.icesdoh.org/telecare.
Audit Commission: Older people - Implementing Telecare.
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