Government of Jersey - Case Study

Jersey is located in the Channel Isles off the South Coast of England, and has a population of just over 100,000. It has its own independent legal, administrative, and fiscal systems. Unlike the rest of the UK, the Channel Isles are not part of the National Health Service (NHS) and instead their health and care services are overseen by the Department for Health and Social Care.

The Department for Health and Social Care in Jersey ensure they offer islanders the chance to live longer, healthier, and productive lives by providing sustainable, safe, affordable, and integrated services in partnerships with others.Despite this, Jersey shares many of the challenges and ambitions familiar to other parts of the UK, especially those with older populations.

Fragmentation and lack of coordination between services, inefficiencies and the specific challenges of caring for an older population compelled the Government of Jersey to act.

They developed a five-year transformation project for their health and care system. The project was guided by principles of person-centred care, prevention, self-care and integration of services. All of which would be enabled by the use of innovative technology, including Access Assure.

Read on to learn more about the Government of Jersey’s approach and outcomes of their project.

Access Assure, formerly known as Alcuris, is more than just a digital social alarm ecosystem. It offers both reactive alarm functionality and proactive digital monitoring of day-to-day activities to offer both preventative and sustainable care delivery in the home.

Our technology helps to address a key gap within the current social care system to make a real difference to people’s lives to help them reach their independent living goals, whilst providing their families reassurance that their loved ones are safe and happy.

One of our customers Airtel Vodafone is working hard to ensure that the Government of Jersey’s Healthcare aims are achieved to deliver better person-centred care.

Airtel Vodafone is a mobile network operator and service provider located in Jersey and Guernsey (Channel Islands). They are providing the technology enabled care  services to deliver the transition and roll-out of the new Digital Telecare service for the Government of Jersey.

Airtel Vodafone are working collaboratively with partners and stakeholders  to ensure that the Government of Jersey’s objectives are  delivered ensuring all individuals receive the care and support needed to deliver better person-centred care outcomes.

Similar to other areas, the Government of Jersey are experiencing significant challenges to the medium-term sustainability and performance of their health and care system. These include:

Demographics-a growing and ageing populations with around one in five of their population 65 or over by 2036.

• Increasing demand with a greater prevalence of complex disease and long term conditions
• Issues of system fragmentation and lack of efficiency
• A secondary care model with hospital at the centre and high rates of care home admission
• Limited use of data and evidence
• Increasing financial pressure both from funding new treatments and rising costs of provision

Therefore the challenge was finding a way to manage demand in a more sustainable and efficient system whilst simultaneously improving outcomes .

In order to overcome the challenges, the Government of Jersey launched a five-year transformation programme to redesign Jersey’s health and care services. This was originally called the Jersey Care Model.

The Care Model identified the use of digital technology across the care continuum is recognised as an enabler for digital transformation.

..a vision of using technology to deliver accessible, joined-up, person-centred care that is safe, effective and efficient, where data is used intelligently to improve every aspect of care, and where innovation flourishes.

The Government of Jersey’s existing Community Alarm service was run by the hospital during the day and the ambulance service overnight. The service supported 1,000 people with analogue alarm units, however there were some challenges which the existing alarm monitoring service faced including:

• The service only provided a reactive pendant alarm service
• A completely analogue service (alarms and monitoring centre)
• Inappropriate use of the ambulance service responding to telecare alarm calls and unnecessary A&E hospital admissions
• The service did not meet the needs and increasing expectations of residents of the island
• The service did not align with the requirements of the Jersey Care Model

It was certain therefore for the Government of Jersey to deliver their vision they needed to re-evaluate digitally transform this services.

The Government of Jersey needed a solution that was would support the delivery of the new model of care. They recognised that telecare is a core part of their new care model and set up a procurement process for a transformed telecare service.

The new service was to be based on a managed service model with the lead organisation being based on the island. Airtel Vodafone, an Access Assure partner,  was selected by the Government of Jersey to provide these new services.

Our combined proposal was to focus on service redesign, migrating to digital, expanding the services to include proactive prevention, and integrating insight and data into the Jersey Care Record.

As there were multiple components to the proposal and vision for the new care model it was crucial all parts of the new service were implemented successfully.

At Access Assure we helped Airtel Vodafone phase the delivery over the contract term and ensure that the service was fully digital first before any further elements of the service were added.

The broad requirements were grouped into a three phased approach:

• To provide an updated digital alarm and pendant service
• To expand the services available
• To enhance the services being delivered focusing on long term care

By delivering the service in phases the Government of Jersey would have a fully digitally transformed telecare service that would support:

• Person centred planning; maximise independence, confidence and resilience
• Positive risk taking; risk assessment and planning for people to achieve their goals
• The achievement of sustainable and co-ordinated services for islanders

Phase 1 – The set up phase

Here the first stage for Airtel Vodafone was setting up the new service. Within this stage there were two main parts:

• Facilitation of a multi-stakeholder Digital Technology Enabled Care service to co-design
• Deployment of a new Digital Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) service – provided by Enovation UMO

Phase 2 – The migration from analogue to Digital

The next stage was arguably the one of the most important stages of the digital transformation process, migrating everything in the community to digital.

This phase included six main steps:

• Installer training on Assure Hub, sensors and Assure platform,
• Service user communications
• Supply of Access Assure Hubs and pendants
• Installation and commissioning to over 1,000 people
• Removal of the existing analogue equipment
• Option to reuse existing peripherals where possible e.g. Chubb.

Phase 3 – Extend the current alarm only service provision

This third phase is currently underway l This phase includes four main steps:

• Review user needs
• Launch mobile alarm service
• Launch preventative service linking to families and care professionals
• Provide additional automated telecare sensors based on user needs

The transition to a new digital service has been warmly welcomed by users with over 95% choosing to switch to the new service; especially relevant with  an increased service cost and with 70% of users self-funding.

The digital migration process focused on minimising disruption to users. Once training and new processes were adopted the average installation time in the home was just 25 minutes. 

Peter Henry, a Community Support Worker for the Government of Jersey states that:

The hubs were easy to set up using the app. People really like the new hubs’ modern design and clients are impressed with the quality of the speech through the unit.

Since Airtel Vodafone has started working for the Government of Jersey we have received great feedback from a variety of end users.

One of our end users has stated that:

Having the alarm gives me reassurance. It gives you that independence. If I fell outside, where I usually have my falls, the old alarm didn’t work. This system is much better.

They also added that the system gives her sons peace of mind that she will be able to call for help if needed and that she has already recommended it to a number of her friends.

Other users have stated their surprise that the unit was small and had such little wires. Overall, one of the main things our end-users are really impressed with is how reassured users feel once the digital alarm system is installed. For example:

I was worried about getting a new community alarm but not now as it is so easy to use and it make me feel safe, and I likes the way it changes colour so that I know it’s working, and I will get the help if I need.

We have also had loved ones of our end-users say how they feel secure knowing that if their mum needed help, she would get is as the alarm is so easy to use. Loved ones have also given great feedback about how the alarm system is very easy to use, especially for users who struggle with their eyesight as when our pendant vibrates our end-users know they have pressed the alarm correctly, and will get they support they need quickly.

Ben Laffoley, the Project Manager at Airtel Vodafone also states that:

The feedback we have received from service users and healthcare professionals has been very positive. Users are benefitting from enhanced call quality and greater reliability and the new system means that the team at HCS24 can now monitor whether a device is working properly when previously they could not. This gives added reassurance to service users and their families.

Due to the great outcomes we have received so far the Minister for Health and Social Services, Deputy Richard Renouf, also explains that :

Upgrading the Community Alarm System means that we can better support Islanders to live as independently as possible within their own homes – a key objective…

The use of innovative technology marks an exciting new chapter for health and social care in Jersey as it enables people to tailor their alarm system to their own particular needs and also provides reassurance to family and friends that their loved one is safe and well.

We are delighted with how well our partnership at Access Assure has been with Airtel Vodafone to demonstrate the positive impacts technology enabled care and digital telecare services can have on Jersey’s health and wellbeing.

We are delighted to have such a strong partner as Airtel Vodafone to transition Jersey’s traditional community alarm system to a modern digital telecare service that creates further opportunities to deliver improved outcomes to users, their families and communities and the wider Health and Social Care system.

As we complete our third phase with them we will be working towards the fourth phase. This phase will include four main stages:

• Co-design of TEC integration with other systems including the Social Care Case Management system and the Jersey Care Record
• Sharing data and insight through standards-based APIs to ensure the service contributes data into other professional systems
• Use of a common Single Sign On to make it easier for users to access a range of services with one set of login credentials
• Review opportunities to support people with long term conditions and the use of virtual wards
• As the service continues to evolve we look forward to delivering more value and evidence supporting Jersey’s Health and Social care team to deliver against a wider range of objectives, such as:Person centred planning; maximise independence, wellbeing, autonomy, confidence and resilience
• Positive risk taking; risk assessment and planning for people to achieve their goals
• The achievement of sustainable and co-ordinated health and social care services for islanders
• To support informal Carers to improve family life and reduce carer strain.
• To reduce patient length of stay in hospital by ensuring they are monitored at home.
• To aid in the prevention of hospital admissions and care home admissions whilst reducing the level of domiciliary support required.

Here at Access Assure we are passionate about providing a unique joined up eco system of services to deliver better outcomes, more joined-up sustainable care and provide the freedom to do more.

The partnership with Airtel Vodafone combined with the Government of Jersey’s visionary transformation programme illustrates the central role that digital services can play in the transformation of health and care;  delivering  accessible, joined-up, person-centred care that is safe, effective and efficient, and where insight is used intelligently to improve decision making across every aspect of care.

As the service transformation continues and the scope of technology enabled care services grows we look forward to sharing further evidence of success over the next few years.

For more information on how our insight driven technology enabled care services can help your organisation deliver better outcomes, a greater focus on early intervention and prevention, and integrate across the wider care continuum to give you the freedom to do more, contact us today.