The latest seminar on 20th September was entitled the ‘NHS Whole Systems Demonstrator programme’. The WSD programme is research project funded by the Department of Health to evaluate how technology can help people manage their own health while maintaining their independence.

David Tyas, the Telehealth Lead for NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, spoke about WSD and more specifically around telehealth, which uses equipment to monitor people’s health in their own home. David cited several case studies of individuals who were equipped to diagnose and treat at home with the support of a telehealth team, who were contactable by telephone and therefore could be treated quickly and without the need for a doctor’s appointment. David explained that telehealth is a work in progress and it is important to change people’s perceptions.

This presentation was followed by Trevor Drage, Assisted Technology Manager at Cornwall Council. Trevor solely focused on telecare local operations. Telecare uses a combination of alarms, sensors and other equipment to help people live independently. Trevor spoke about his experience of building telecare in Cornwall and shared his insights in terms of understanding the way people react and relate to technology and the importance of maintaining a good relationship with telecare customers.

The event was well attended by delegates including healthcare professionals, service user groups and academic researchers.

All our welcome to the next event called ‘Stroke Care in the Community’ to be held on 23rd November 2011 at Bath Ventures Innovation Centre

The DALLAS programme – Delivering Assisted Living Lifestyles at Scale – will establish up to 5 sites across the UK with a minimum of 10,000 users per site and will show how assisted living technologies and services can be used to promote well-being and provide top quality health and care, enabling people to live independently.  The programme will also help to grow the sector in the UK and help British companies to take advantage of increasing global demand for assisted living.

Universities and Science Minister David Willetts said:

“British companies have made great progress in developing new independent living technologies. The market for these services is now growing rapidly in the UK and across the world. This investment will provide opportunities for British companies to showcase themselves in valuable new ways.”

Minister of State for Care Services Paul Burstow said:

Assistive technology, like remote monitoring and personal alarms, provide a great opportunity for improving health outcomes and supporting independence.  We want to see the results from our Whole System Demonstrator programme help the development of technology at a scale that will bring benefits to as many people as possible. To that end, I think the DALLAS approach will provide an impetus that can make a real difference to patients and staff.

Iain Gray, the Technology Strategy Board’s Chief Executive, said:

This demonstrator 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 programme 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 programme will also show how cost savings could be made alongside the provision of improved health benefits for both public and private provision, while opening new markets in social innovation, service innovation and wellness.

There will be a total investment over four years of £23 million.  The Technology Strategy Board will invest £18 million in the UK-wide programme while the Scottish Government has agreed to invest a further £5 million, to establish one of the sites in Scotland.  Earlier this month the Technology Strategy Board and the Scottish Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a Scottish Assisted Living Demonstrator with each committed to invest up to £5m.

A competition for contracts to establish the DALLAS sites will open in June 2011.  Further information about the competition will be published by the Technology Strategy Board in June.

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Telecoms and software have transformed industry yet they have so far failed to reach their potential in healthcare.

However with the system under growing pressure from restricted budgets and the increase of chronic conditions and elderly patients, telemedicine is likely to become increasingly important.

The latest in NESTA’s series of Hot Topics events will look at how telemedicine, the use of telecoms for remote healthcare, can move into the mainstream and how it could help shape the future of healthcare.

We’ll discuss the benefits of telemedicine, mobile health and other technologies on the lives of patients, and the healthcare ecosystem as a whole, and ask what more needs to be done to create a system that can make the most of these technologies.

Speakers include: Adil Abrar, founder and director, Sidekick Studios; Sara Murray, founder and creator of Buddi; Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, CEO and founder, Patients Know Best and Bill McKeon, CEO, Cellnovo

Where: IET London: Savoy Place, UK

As the UK population is growing older, engineers are trying to develop healthcare technologies for people which allow monitoring without having to visit a hospital. Assisted Living 2011 will explore all aspects of these developments including government regulation and standards, design issues, end user demands and funding issues.

Hear from carefully selected speakers from a range of backgrounds to give you the rare opportunity to develop a wide range of skills and knowledge in this exciting and challenging industry.

Speakers include:

• Nick Hunn, CTO, WIFORE
• David Calder, ALIP Knowledge Transfer Manager, HealthTechnologies KTN
• Dr Rich Picking, Reader in Human-Computer Interaction, Glyndwr University
• Professor Robert Istepanian, Director of the MINT Research Centre, Kingston University, London

Find out more

June 6 – 7, 2011

Toronto, Canada – Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel

Ways to support people’s ability to live independently are increasingly demanded throughout the world as demographics shift to an older society and the prevalence of disability increases. Creating and focusing technology to address quality of life concerns is a timely challenge for scientists, engineers, clinicians and society as a whole.

In this symposium, key opinion leaders in Quality of Life Technology will present their most recent concepts and results and engage in open discussion. The symposium will showcase emerging technologies, their motivations and applications from around the world. Through peer-reviewed papers, poster sessions, and panels, presenters will discuss their latest research and findings.

Topics Include (but are not limited to):

• Assistive Robotics
• Aging and Disability Services
• Human Awareness Technology
• Mobility Aids
• Human Activity Modeling
• Human-System Interaction
• Safe Driving Technology
• Privacy Issues

2011 isQoLT Keynote Speaker:

Takeo Kanade, Director of the Quality of Life Technology Center and U.A. and Helen Whitaker University Professor, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University

Please visit the isQoLT website for full details