groups that support them,” explains Desbarats. “The person in need of care has a tablet computer which has been designed with lots of user input that makes it incredibly intuitive to use. On this tablet, there are areas for measuring health, communicating via text or video, as well as information and service areas.” “The information from this tablet can
then also be monitored by selected family and friends or from their own computers. Carers can see the status of the person they are concerned about, receive alerts on things they have selected to monitor and push messages communicate. This is all done on a virtual private network, or VPN, meaning that any sensitive information is kept within the confines of those invited into the network.” Working alongside care operators, a
range of care management portals have also been developed. These allow care operators to effectively build their own processes for remote care and in-person care management. Professionals can create and manage tests, assessments and care plans that are fully customized for every care recipient. Service delivery portals help the carers on their rounds and automatically confirm that plans are being properly implemented The system’s flexibility means that it can
be used in a variety of different situations. For instance, in care homes it is necessary for care workers to have signed consent for everything they do with their patients. This can lead to unmanageable amounts of paperwork, which is not only difficult to keep track of but can detract from the amount of time spent caring for the patient. The WellTogether system allows for all of this to be digitised, saving valuable time that can be spent providing real care. As well as care operators, health organisations will be able to use
“The product is like a secure social network for older people and the care groups that support them”
WellTogether to offer chronically ill
patients a new mix of in-home self- management and remote supervision to prevent the acute episodes that accelerate the spiral of increased dependency. “Hospitals will also find that it is a vital tool for freeing up valuable bed space,” says Desbarats.
“For instance, you could
configure the tablet to do an infection monitoring test. The patient could take daily photos of their post-operative wound from home, and then send them to their doctor who could check for infection.
“What we want to achieve is to allow
these organisations to make decisions that allow them to function at a higher level while still providing the same quality of care. This is achieved by getting people to self-assess and manage their own health in a controlled way.”
Designed to Empathise Desbarats believes that one of
the main
problems with similar projects in the past has been the lack of consumer-level usability, something that he hopes has been counteracted by taking a new approach from the beginning. The two main partners behind the project are a commercial team of design professionals and a medical software company, setting them apart from previous care-at-home projects which have generally been academically or technologically led. “My company does something known as
experience led design,” says Desbarats. “We help companies innovate from the perspective of human behavior , guiding them in how to deploy and present technology so that people actually use it. A big part of this is what is called inclusive design, which in this case means creating products and services that address the detailed practical needs of older people, but doing this in a totally non-patronising way that can have a broad mass appeal. A good example of this is our ‘Freestyle’ Big Button cordless phones for BT which are also among the UK’s top 10 best-sellers. “Because we were working with young
designers, it was especially important to adopt certain techniques that involve the users in the design process. When you don’t take these measures, you run the risk of alienating the people who need the technology the most.” Meeting with care workers as well as
potential service users was the initial step in this design process. “From talking with these
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