Evaluation of the Scottish National Telecare Development Programme

Findings and implications for future research

Sophie BealeSenior Consultant, York Health Economics Consortium, University of York

sjb29@york.ac.uk

Overview

What is Telecare? Introduction to the Telecare Development

Programme (TDP) Overview of the evaluation of the TDP Summary of the findings Implications for the evaluation of telecare Conclusions

Telecare Development Programme

Telecare Development Programme (TDP) launched in August 2006.

‘To help more people in Scotland live at home for longer, with safety and security, by promoting the use of telecare in Scotland, through the provision of a development fund and associated support’

Supported by c£8M in funding

Expected to provide a foundation for telecare to become an integral part of community care across Scotland.

Telecare/Telehealth/Telemedicine

There is considerable variation in the way in which telecare, telehealth and telemedicine are defined

All involve the delivery of services via telecommunications and computerised systems, usually to individuals in their own home

Telecare/Telehealth/Telemedicine

Tele-intervention Examples

Telecare

Telecare is concerned with monitoring over time to manage the risks (which may be the concern of health and/or social care) associated with independent living.

Natural gas or bottled gas detector;Wearable fall detector;Passive Infra Red (PIR) movement detectors;Nocturnal bed monitor;Opening alerts for external doors.

Telehealth

Remote exchange of physiological data between a patient at home and medical staff to assist in diagnosis and monitoring

Blood pressure monitoring; Blood glucose monitoring; Cardiac arrhythmia monitoring; and

Medication reminder systems Telemedicine

Use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications

Remote consultations with specialists;

Telecare Development Programme: Specific objectives

Reduce the number of avoidable emergency admissions and readmissions to hospital;

Increase the speed of discharge from hospital once clinical need is met;

Reduce the use of care homes; Improve the quality of life of users; Reduce the pressure on informal carers; Extend the range of people assisted by telecare; Achieve efficiencies (cash releasing/time saving); Support effective procurement.

Majority of these have important economic implications

for health and social care

Evaluation Overview

Joint Improvement Team commissioned an evaluation of the TDP Assessment of the implementation

and uptake; Assessment of performance

against the agreed objectives; Provide an evidence base on the

costs and benefits of the Programme;

Develop metrics that can become embedded in practice.

Evaluation Methods

Multiple methods explored at the outset of the project

Emphasise that the TDP was an investment programme, not a research exercise

Pragmatic approach Work with existing routine data where possible; Minimise burden of data collection on partnerships; Fit-for-purpose study, acknowledging the limitations.

Evaluation Methods

Quarterly, self-reported monitoring from partnerships on progress and outcomes against pre-specified objectives E.g. number of users, number of admissions avoided, number of

delayed discharges avoided

Surveys of users and carers to understand their perceptions

Supplemented with case studies, including in-depth interviews with stakeholders, users and carers

Findings: Welcome financial headlines!

Partnerships estimated to have saved over £11.5M as a result of the TDP investment

Reduction in admissions to care homes, equating to over 60,000 care home days = c 31% of savings

Reduction in unplanned hospital admissions, equating to over 13,000 bed days = c 30% of savings

Improved speed of discharge, equating to over 5,000 bed days = 16% of savings

TDP produced savings against 6 efficiency targets identified at the outset of the study

Findings: Impact on Users and Carers

60% of users reported improvements in quality of life Nearly 70% reported feeling more independent Over 90% reported feeling safer Less than 5% reported feeling lonelier as a result of telecare

Nearly 75% of informal carers felt that telecare had reduced pressure/stress Facilitated greater independence for users

Findings: Organisational & Policy impact

Almost 8,000 new users of TDP funded telecare during 2007/08 Predominantly older people (85% aged >65) New users with dementia, learning disabilities or physical

disabilities Predominantly female (62%)

Approximately half of partnerships used the National Framework Agreement to purchase telecare Some partnerships found cheaper or better solutions outside

of the National Framework Agreement

Limitations

Impact is self-reported Reliant on partnerships to consider the impact relative to no

TDP grant. Not possible to include a control arm - difficult to know the

counter-factual Not possible to attribute any incremental effect to TDP -

some of the programmes were already underway Incentives for partnerships to overstate the benefits

In addition to this, caution should be taken in interpreting the financial outcomes Some of the efficiency gains are unlikely to be ‘cash-

releasing’

Limitations

Partnerships took time to implement telecare solutions Not all partnerships were able to complete all quarterly

returns over the course of the evaluation Time-lag due to time involved in the purchase and

implementation of telecare solutions Additional time lag associated with the need for cultural

change in users and professionals attitudes to care E.g. referral triggers

Limitations

Impossible to quantify displacement or unintended consequences of telecare Are additional resources required in communities as a result

of less reliance on secondary care/care homes?

What can we interpret from the findings?

Pragmatic study of telecare in use assessed against a wide range of outcome measures Beneficial impact on health and social care efficiencies More importantly, beneficial impact on user outcomes, such

as independent living and perceptions of safety

The study does not provide definitive evidence of the effectiveness of any specific intervention Too many interventions included to assess effectiveness in

any meaningful population

Implications for future research: RCTs

Randomised controlled trials are the most appropriate means of assessing the effectiveness of individual interventions Allow for identification of an attributable effect by controlling

other influences

However, RCTs may be of limited value in supporting the mainstreaming of telecare Effectiveness is context specific Heterogeneity in users and service environments Heterogeneity in access to interventions Practical difficulties in recruitment and randomisation Hawthorne effect – observed in telehealth studies?

Implications for future research A number of alternative approaches to evaluation were

explored:

Before and after study Monitor users before and after the introduction of telecare Problematic in progressive conditions or where telecare has been

provided after a sudden change in health state (e.g. stroke)

Use of predictive models Predicts expected hospitalisations based on an individual’s

characteristics Methods not fully mature – problematic in progressive illnesses and

focussed primarily on health care

Use of control groups Difficulties in selecting control group – what should you control for? Is it ethical to refuse to provide telecare to a member of the control

group?

Implications for telecare adoption

Widespread adoption of promising technologies remains limited due to the limited availability of high-quality evidence Studies tend to be commissioned by those

with an interest in promoting telecare Small populations and lack of follow-up

lead to limited generalisability of findings

Therefore, adoption of promising technologies remains limited

A model for pragmatic, evidence-based uptake of telecare?

A ‘risk-sharing’ model may support appropriate adoption Purchasers and suppliers define reasonable objectives for

telecare and evaluation criteria Promising results support further adoption Failure to achieve objectives explored Rebates in place for sub-optimal performance?

A model for pragmatic, evidence-based uptake of telecare?

Risk-sharing is suited to promising technologies characterised by uncertainty over their effectiveness Addresses purchasers’ concerns about equivocal evidence

base by providing some form of ‘guarantee’ Addresses manufacturers concerns about the need to

continuously invest in context specific trials Generates further evidence on the barriers and facilitators

for implementation in practice settings

Increasingly applied to pharmaceuticals – possibly more relevant to interventions such as telecare

Hard endpoints available from routinely collected data

Summary & Recommendations

The Scottish TDP programme appears to have been a cost effective use of resources Acknowledge the limitations of the pragmatic evaluation Acknowledge that many of the benefits of the programme

have yet to materialise

The TDP evaluation provides further evidence to support the mainstream use of telecare, although the findings are equivocal Are RCTs the most appropriate means of supporting

mainstreaming of telecare?

An evidence based approach to the staged widespread adoption of promising telecare technologies might address the concerns of all stakeholders involved.

Acknowledgements

Diana SandersonAssociate Senior Consultant

Jen KrugerProject Support Officer

Paul Trueman Director

Joint Improvement Team

TDP partnerships