The Experience of Kent County Council: Telecare as a Preventive Tool, and a Catalyst for Service Integration

摘要

Kent County Council [KCC]'s vision of the future of Social Services is founded on the principle that everyone in society has a contribution to make to that society, and that they should have the right to control their own lives. This means that public, private and voluntary sector services must learn to work together much more seamlessly and effectively at all levels, to provide more individualised services and to maximise finite resources. Alongside the demographic and healthcare challenges which are faced across Europe, these drivers have triggered an renewed emphasis on the importance of commissioning preventive, rather than simply reactive, crisis-driven services.rnAs this paper outlines, it is because of these pressures that KCC's Adult Social Services Directorate has committed to work alongside Health, Housing, and other Social Care partners in Kent to trial, and then to roll out Telecare and Telehealth-based services across the County as a preventive tool. The intention is that these interventions will support people to remain living in their own homes for as long as possible, reduce admissions to hospital and to residential care, and promote the wellbeing and quality of life of informal, unpaid carers (such as people caring for a relative, friend or neighbour). The paper then provides a brief outline of an experience from the US which has inspired KCC to invest in Telehealth trials in Kent, with exciting implications for future services. The paper goes on to describe in detail KCC's experiences of piloting Telecare services to date, and indicates some of the messages from these pilots which will influence the design and direction of future service development.