Western Isles chosen as one of five pilot areas

THE WESTERN Isles has been chosen as one of five pilot areas of Scotland which will take part in a research and development programme that will see up to £10m invested in finding innovative solutions that could improve the lives of millions of people with long term conditions.

The aim is to encourage 10,000 or more older adults living in the pilot areas to take part in the DALLAS (Delivering Assisted Lifestyles At Scale) initiative. The programme will examine the use of new technologies to support people in their own homes and find out which innovative products, systems and services work best.

The areas which have been chosen are:

· NHS Western Isles through the Western Isles Community Health and Social Care Partnership
· NHS Forth Valley Local Health and Care Partnerships in Clackmannanshire,

Falkirk and Stirling

· NHS Grampian’s Moray Community Health and Social Care Partnership
· NHS Highland, the Highland Council, Argyll and Bute Council and the Highland

Partnership area

· NHS Lothian, Community Health and Care Partnerships, local authorities and

other partners

Cabinet Secretary for Health Nicola Sturgeon said: “Supporting people to live independently at home is a key priority for the Scottish Government. It is what older people have consistently said they want and we know it is generally better for people’s health to remain at home wherever that’s possible.

“Scotland has made significant progress on developing and expanding new technologies to help people do just that – providing effective care and reassurance to many older people. This project demonstrates our commitment to build on this progress and to expand even further the role technology plays in supporting twenty-first century healthcare.”

NHS Western Isles Medical Director Dr James Ward commented: “As a result of changing demographics towards an increasingly older population, NHS Boards have to continuously adapt, evolve and improve our approaches to providing care to people as they age, as well as supporting those with long term conditions.

“With one of the most elderly populations in Scotland, and a commitment to develop the application of telehealth in partnership, NHS Western Isles is ideally placed to pilot this innovative project. NHS Western Isles and our local authority together have a positive track record in using technology as part of assisted living and we anticipate that this new initiative will enable us to further improve patient care and enhance the patient experience.”

He added: “As well as working with local authority and voluntary sector partners to develop this work, it is crucial that service users and their carers are involved in the design and implementation of technology solutions to support healthy lifestyles and independent living. The use of technology is becoming more and more part of everyday life and it essential the health and care services build this into our day to day arrangements to support the people we care for.”

In Scotland, the work will be led by the Scottish Centre for Telehealth and Telecare (SCTT) and NHS 24, and will examine how new technologies and innovative services can help improve the quality of life of, and support independent living for, older people and people living with long term health and care issues.

Dr George Crooks, OBE, Medical Director of NHS 24 and Chair of the Scottish Assisted Living Programme said: “We are delighted to announce the five areas across Scotland who have been selected to be part of this innovative project. We will be working closely with colleagues in the health and social care sectors in these regions on work that could potentially transform the lives of people living with long term health and care issues.

“The national Scottish Assisted Living Programme Board was impressed with the level of interest shown in expanding and embedding the role that technology can play within integrated health and care service redesign. However, it has been necessary to focus activity on a small number of geographic areas within this initial stage of the programme in order to target resources most effectively and realise maximum impact from the Technology Strategy Board’s DALLAS initiative.”

The three-year research and development project, is part of a UK-wide scheme run by the UK’s innovation agency, The Technology Strategy Board. The programme is also supported by a range of other organisations, including the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Centre for Telehealth and Telecare, part of NHS 24.

DALLAS is considered to be phase one of the wider Scottish Assisted Living Programme, which aims to offer effective technologies to support care for people with disabilities and or health conditions in their own homes. DALLAS is considered to inform a further roll-out of technology supported service redesign across Scotland.

Iain Gray, the Technology Strategy Board’s Chief Executive, said: “This programme will be the next step towards the aspiration of providing assisted living services for millions of people across the UK. The key objective behind the initiative is to take the next step towards integrating new healthcare and well-being technology and services across the public sector, the private sector and the third sector, including by charities and social enterprises.”

The DALLAS programme is designed to address the changes and opportunities that are due to arise by the mid 21^st century due to a shifting global demographic. Within the next 30 years, in the UK alone, there is a large projected increase in the numbers of older adults in society. The programme is addressing this by exploring new solutions that would help meet the health and social care needs of tomorrow.

The next steps will be to work closely with the partnerships in the identified areas to scope out the specifications required for the programme which gets underway in 2012 and will run until 2015.

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