Admission
Avoidance
The
PCTs now have a financial incentive to reduce the number of unplanned
hospital admissions. Practice Based Commissioning is designed
to support prevention and reward those general practices and PCTs
that have preventative services. Community Matrons are focusing
on those people with Long Term Conditions, as this group have
frequent avoidable admissions into hospital.
Some
of the older people profiled as ‘frequent flyers’
do not have a Long Term Condition but their general frailty increases
the risk of admission. A high proportion of older people are admitted
to hospital because a problem has been left undetected long enough
to become a crisis. Many people do not take their medication as
prescribed, which can result in a gradual decline in wellbeing
or avoidable progression of disease. Poor sleep quality reduces
the effectiveness of the immune system. Older people become more
prone to infection, falls and depression as a result. They are
particularly susceptible to lung and urinary tract infections
that result in confusion, falling and hospitalisation.
PCTs
need to address the ‘frequent flyer’ issue to minimise
their spend on avoidable admissions. If this is not done effectively,
future budgets will be stretched with the likelihood of reduced
services which will result in more hospital admissions; a downward
spiral.
By monitoring the wellness of those
people that are most at risk, and intervening at an early stage,
unnecessary hospital admissions can be avoided. What is required
is a means of effectively monitoring these ‘at risk’
people cost effectively without having to create new processes
and new, people intensive services. Clearly it needs to be a
system that the client is prepared to utilise 24 hours each
day and also one that has no social stigma attached.
WristCare Home System helps
with Admission Avoidance
WristCare provides existing services such
as Intermediate Care, Rapid Response, Re-ablement, Occupational
Therapists, District & Practice nurses and Community Matrons
with Wellness Data. This shows daily, weekly or monthly improvements
and deteriorations enabling timely interventions. This data is
made available on a secure web site and is therefore available
to anybody who has access to the internet and has the relevant
security codes.
As one Hampshire carer commented, “Having WristCare is like
having a crystal ball”.
Discreet
profile
Deterioration
alarm
Improved
confidence
Rapid
installation
Manual
Alarm
Wellness
monitoring
= more information
