ACTIVITIES :: eTen :: Projects :: Projects of the Month :: Health-eLife
September 2006 Project of the Month: Health-eLife
Home based Management of Chronic Disease Sufferers
A great emphasis is being placed on the role of general practice and community medicine in improving the health of people across the EU. Demographic changes, an increasing proportion of the elderly in the population, and a shift in the nature of the disease burden to patients with long term conditions intensified by an imbalance in the service provision between urban and rural areas across socio-economic groups and pressure on national resources, requires long term solutions to maintain healthcare provision at appropriate levels.
Health-eLife provides a comprehensive solution, based on the doc@HOME programmable platform that enables health providers to manage patients with long term conditions in their own homes, initially for heart disease, respiratory disease and diabetes. The service can also be used for the assessment of patients at home as part of outpatient services and/or prior to and following periods of in-hospital stay, reducing demands on healthcare resources. The service is adaptable to wider clinical needs and can be customised by healthcare providers to create service solutions to their specific requirements.
Main objectives of the project
The focus of Health-eLife™ is the exploration of implementation requirements for the deployment of the new doc@HOME® Tele-Health service and the preparation of a business plan to attract investors and formalise deployment. Doc@HOME® is the successful outcome of former EU support initiatives, for managing patients with long term conditions in their own homes as an alternative to hospital in-stay and attendance at outpatient clinics. The objectives of the Health-eLife project include:
- Identification of new health management opportunities in the form of virtual outpatient services, likely to benefit patients and the enhancement of service provision in representative European communities in the UK, Finland and Sweden.
- Construction of an evidence base as a result of validation of services for Hypertension, Heart Failure, Diabetes and Respiratory disease management.
- A review and analysis of former studies in Portugal, Estonia and the UK to provide additional input across the targeted disease areas.
- Demonstration and presentation of the service development pathway, clinical and care objectives and benefits to patients through participation in local conferences and workshops.
- Development of a definitive business plan with the background support of a comprehensive ‘European Market Information Base’ as an information source geared to achieve two primary goals:
- a) attract potential investors and collaborators to Docobo Limited, the partner that has developed the doc@HOME service
- b) to be in a position to commence the roll out of the doc@HOME® service in the UK and other European Member States during the second half of 2006 to achieve systematic organic growth as the key European facilitator for home management of patients with long term conditions.
Achievements
During the time frame of the project the Doc@HOME service has been deployed in the outpatient department of the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, UK, for use by 35 patients with diabetes. The objective here is to validate the ‘home monitoring’ component of the service, the ‘HeathHUB™’ and a new application of the locally developed ‘Alphabet Strategy’ for self-management of patients with diabetes. This is concluding and will be reported in a clinical evaluation report. This direct clinical work has been supported by partners’ assessment of country specific information:
- Partners in Sweden and Finland have investigated and identified key objectives for deployment of virtual outpatient services for management of patients with Hypertension in their representative countries.
- Estonian and UK commercial partners have constructed a comprehensive knowledge base covering most European Member States from a meta analysis of current information sources and newly commissioned research activity, including analysis of a minimum of 6 months continuous monitoring for 250 patients at home in three European countries across representative patient groups with heart failure, respiratory disease and diabetes.
Project work has shown both potential areas for success and those where this form of activity is not appropriate. It has also demonstrated that in such circumstances expert medical care in association with regulated patient self-management can meaningfully improve quality of life and self value as well as having the potential to satisfy the long term needs of patients and healthcare providers.
Expected benefits by the end of the project
- The project has already produced positive outcome with the uptake of pilot start-up projects in a number of clinical sites in the UK as a result of workshop and seminar presentations.
- Continuing work with the clinical sites in Portugal has also resulted in recommendations from the clinical experts to commence services; negotiations with potential implementers of the services in Portugal have begun and will shortly be formalised.
- The project has provided the means to gain a considerable, first-hand, knowledge base of the European potential for home management of patients with long term conditions as well as identifying future development needs.
- Finally, the major outcome of the project is the achievement of the ‘State of Readiness’ in terms of a comprehensive business map and roll-out plan for service implementation across the EU and investment generation.
The partners
Docobo Ltd. UK – coordinator and business development lead
Curonia Research OU, Estonia – co-operator with Docobo Ltd
Forecom FCE AB., Sweden – business consultancy
Turku Central University Hospital, Finland – Beneficiary
George Eliot Hospital National Health Trust, Nuneaton, UK - Beneficiary
Reference Data
Project's website:
http://www.health-elife.co.uk/ and http://www.docobo.co.uk/
Contract Type: Market Validation
Start Date: March 2005
End Date: June 2006
Duration: 16 Months
Contact: info@docobo.co.uk
