Liverpool rolls out city-wide telemedicine service to care homes

NHS Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has deployed a city-wide telemedicine service connecting care home residents to healthcare professionals via video link.

The service, supplied by Immedicare, has been rolled out to 55 care homes in Liverpool to reduce pressures on frontline healthcare staff and local resource costs.

The platform provides care home residents with 24-hour access to a clinical care team based at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust in Yorkshire.

The technology will be introduced at three additional, purpose-built intermediate care units to provide additional support in time for winter 2019, as the NHS anticipates increased demand on services.

Dr Fiona Ogden-Forde, governing body member and clinical lead for healthy ageing at Liverpool CCG, said: “The Immedicare service is an important part of our care home offering in Liverpool and has contributed to our ultimate goal of delivering the best possible experience for residents, families and care home staff.”

Immedicare’s telemedicine service was first trialled in Liverpool in 2017.

It has been deployed as part of the wider Liverpool Care Home Improvement Strategy, a joint strategy between Liverpool CCG, Liverpool City Council and the care home community.

The service is expected to be strengthened further by NHS England’s Enhanced Health in Care Home Framework, which seeks to better connect care and nursing homes to primary, secondary, community and social care services using digital platforms.

The framework is due to be implemented more widely across Liverpool over the course of 2020.

According to Immedicare, 60% all consultations via its hub do not require any onward referral to local healthcare providers, with 90% of patients able to remain in their place of residence following a consultation.

Immedicare’s nurses can also request prescriptions so that medication can be delivered directly to care homes.

David Butler, commissioning and development lead for Immedicare, said: “We believe telemedicine solutions like this truly have the power to transform the help received in care homes, while delivering the help that the NHS is crying out for.

“We know it isn’t the single solution to the NHS’s challenges, but Immedicare’s results show how telemedicine yields positive results, generating significant savings and helping to reduce the strains that exist on the frontline of healthcare delivery.”