Telecare

21st century healthcare for vulnerable older people — Hull leads the way in telehealth

November 2008

New and exciting technology is to help the older generation of the city of Hull in Northeast England live longer, healthier and happier lives in their own homes through the creation of an electronic gateway accessible through digital TV.

The award-winning STREAM Personal TV project has been formed by key partners from across Hull, including the City Council, who funded the project, and the National Health Service. It will provide vulnerable older people with access to locally relevant and personalised information, online support and communication through their television, providing a platform for key services such as healthcare provision.

The idea is to connect all local services to provide a personalised interactive ‘one-stop shop’ for the over 65’s, using Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) to deliver improved patient experience and reduce the cost of delivering such services.

The system builds a profile for the user which will become more specific the more they log on and view information that is relevant to them. The aim is to help address healthcare and social issues through the creation of an integrated digital network. By connecting with typically hard to reach sectors of society with the use of an ever developing platform, the creators hope to produce a ‘future-proof’ solution for the city.

This project was generated when various public, private and voluntary/ charitable sector bodies across Hull, as well as global business partners, came together to look at what was needed for the future of the city. Digital projects were already in place in the community and Hull’s notable history in communications technology had prompted the city partnership to look at how technology and the Digital City concept could be used to rise to the city’s challenges and opportunities.

One hundred homes across the city have already received a digital set-top box that gives them access to over 100 Freeview TV channels, as well as a broadband connection that provides access to local programmes and services on demand.

The client can use a wireless keyboard to access information relating to their well being, including healthcare advice from medical experts, hints and tips on staying independent at home, and even learning keep-fit exercises. All from the comfort of their armchair.

 A screenshot from STREAM personal TV

Viewers have a choice of locally produced programmes and a rapidly expanding catalogue of national content. STREAM has signed a syndication agreement with NHS Choices on all its online video material, and is currently working with other national bodies such as the Stroke Association and the Alzheimer's Society to produce more programmes, giving users a rich vein of information on a wide range of health-related topics.

Steve Fleming, Group Manager of Knowledge Economy at Hull City Council said: “STREAM offers users information and advice instantly that would otherwise be difficult to access. In many cases this can have a direct impact upon their well being — as well as providing a direct link to their local community.

“We feel STREAM has huge potential to add to the way services are delivered in Hull, but more than that provides a model of how cutting edge technology, partnership and innovation can be used to improve the lives of everyday people.” He added.

Hull is drawing on its previous hi-tech success to provide an electronic phenomenon that will connect with the hard to reach in transforming health care throughout the city and its role in the national Government-funded digital inclusion partnership, DC10plus.

This example of digital inclusion is not the first for Hull. Decades of experience gave the project its foundations. Past examples of IPTV systems in the city include ‘Business STREAM’ which was a web-based TV for the business community of the city, as well as ‘Learning STREAM’ which enabled families who didn’t have their own PC to access education-based information and programmes through their television.

Mark Jones, Managing Director of STREAM, thinks the city’s pedigree has been key to the success of the project: “The world’s first commercial deployment of IPTV took place in Hull in the late nineties. The city was really ahead of its time in delivering video-on-demand and interactive services. We’re only now seeing the IPTV market become a reality. We were able to build on these foundations to explore how the technology could be used to deliver public sector services, particularly to the high cost, hard to reach groups who don’t have access to a PC and broadband.”

Jean Lidgard, 73, a STREAM Personal TV user is very impressed with the new system in her home and finds it improves her quality of life. Not only can she find out medical information and support groups available to her, she can stay in contact with family overseas by email and finds the explanation of financial care available to her extremely valuable.

She describes how, with the use of STREAM Personal TV, she has found out things she has never heard about before, “Well I never knew that!” has become her catchphrase when talking about the device. “People are crying out for help and don’t know where to go, if you can get it off a TV screen then that’s more than welcome. The more it comes into homes, the more it will benefit all of us. Why struggle?” she asks.

In August this year the STREAM project won the award for IT Project Innovation, at the Local Government Good Communications Awards 2008. The award was given in recognition of the Hull team’s achievement to improve communication with residents. The judges, in awarding first place to Hull, said of the project that it: “lays a foundation for future delivery of services from both the Local Authority and their chosen partners.”

With the looming switchover to digital TV in 2011, Hull is a leading light for the future of technology. It is for this reason the creators are asking “Why miss the opportunity of the switch over to demonstrate the importance of digital health improvements? It’s a huge opportunity waiting to happen”.

The success of the project is helped by the close relationship that the creators have with local health and care delivery partners from the public, private and voluntary sectors and other organisations, including charities such as Hull Churches Home from Hospital as well as national agencies like the Stroke Association. Team this expertise with the constant communication with experienced healthcare staff and you will understand how STREAM Personal TV was launched.

The system is an example of the direction that Hull City Council’s Community Care services are taking, embracing telehealth and telecare to help vulnerable older people live longer, healthier and happier lives in their own homes.

Hull Forward, the city’s economic development company is capitalising on Hull’s strengths in healthcare technologies to deliver enhanced healthcare provision for the people of Hull and for it to become a driving force for the local economy. To do this they have created a working group which includes representatives from Reckitt Benckiser, Smith & Nephew, Seven Seas and SMEs, as well public sector representatives from the University of Hull and the local NHS acute and primary care trust. The focus is on the three niche areas of: advanced woundcare; telehealth; and medical devices & diagnostics; with the aim of becoming recognised nationally and internationally for healthcare technologies.

Spending time on this project remains essential for its success, explains Mark Jones, who hopes the number of homes benefiting from STREAM Personal TV in Hull will increase to 5000 with help from EU funding.

However, thoughts for new projects continue with the idea of helping more excluded members of society become integrated with the use of technology. The link between exclusion and transformation is simply to connect the hardest to reach to the relevant services.

Creating useful digital services, such as STREAM, for these groups improves their quality of life whilst reducing the cost of their needs. The unemployed and ethnic minorities are both groups that the creators want to help, as well as more health-specific groups such as those who suffer from cardiac problems.

Hull is also working with partners in the national DC10 Group, the group of Digital Challenge national finalists, funded by the Department of Communities & Local Government and other government departments, on how these new assistive technologies can contribute to tackling the national issue of an ageing population, promote digital inclusion amongst the elderly and the vulnerable, and taking the opportunities of major programmes like the switchover to Digital TV to promote public service transformation, particularly for the elderly and the vulnerable.