Tunstall Healthcare triumphs at the Age Friendly Recognition & Achievement Awards
Yorkshire-based global health technology company Tunstall Healthcare is celebrating after a triumphant win in the Active & Healthy Ageing category at the Age Friendly Recognition & Achievement Awards 2022.
The Age Friendly Cities and Counties Programme is part of a World Health Organisation (WHO) inspired movement which embraces the challenges and opportunities that our ageing population presents. It works to facilitate local authorities to take the lead on challenging perceptions around ageing, and how services are planned and delivered.
Tunstall was selected thanks to its innovative partnership with a multi-agency Stakeholder Group (Age Friendly Ireland, Integrated Care Programme in the HSE, Wexford General Hospital, Tunstall Emergency Response, Wexford County Council-Age Friendly Programme) in County Wexford in 2021. The judges were particularly impressed with the real difference that the telehealth pilot has made to the lives of older people in Ireland.
The pilot project set out to provide a 12-week telehealth intervention to 50 patients with three identified chronic conditions (Chronic Health Failure, Diabetes and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). The project was independently evaluated by Waterford Institute of Technology.
James Doyle, Managing Director of Tunstall Emergency Response, commented: “Telehealth is the future of healthcare as it offers services that can be designed around the patient, providing support in the community and helping to keep people out of hospital. The HSE in Ireland is committed to digital transformation and driving service improvement using technology.
“At Tunstall, we were delighted to be involved in the telehealth pilot – it is absolutely achievable that more people can live independently for longer at home and feel empowered to self-manage and stay well.”
Tunstall telehealth equipment was provided to the patients for a 12 week duration. The technologies used were the ‘myMobile’ patient app and ‘triageManager’.
The ‘myMobile’ is a patient app which enables self-management and monitoring. The app collects data from monitoring devices on vital signals such as pulse, oxygen levels and blood pressure, as well as patient symptoms.
‘triageManager’ is a clinical management software platform which enables clinical and service teams to monitor patients remotely. The system enables a number of outputs including automated prioritisation tools and summary reports for clinicians.
Gavin Bashar, UK Managing Director at Tunstall Healthcare, added: “It’s been an honour for Tunstall to have worked with such fantastic partners on the telehealth pilot in Wexford. The results really do speak for themselves and everyone involved deserves this recognition for the part they’ve played in supporting vulnerable people in Ireland. We’re looking forward to contributing to phase two of the pilot and reaching more citizens across the country.”
Patients were highly engaged with the project, with 98 per cent of readings recorded. There were also low levels of attrition which were partly due to the support provided by Tunstall with any queries they had, and reminders to take readings.
One participant commented that it gave them confidence in their illness management. “I think because when I knew my oxygen levels were good, it gave me more confidence to go about my day and do more activities.”
The Wexford telehealth pilot has attracted international interest thanks to its success and has proven that Ireland is an exemplar for championing technology in healthcare provision. Thanks to the success of the first phase, a second phase is planned to commence in 2022, covering five counties and 250 patients.
Tunstall Healthcare, which recently received award recognition for the technology services it provides in elderly housing, works with health, care, and housing providers across 15 countries, providing advanced technology-enabled care solutions, which enable over five million people with health and care needs to live independently for longer, and with an improved quality of life.
Its technology and service offerings allow its customers to deploy new models of community-based health and care delivery that are more integrated, personalised and proactive.
