UHP to help Plymouth residents shape future of health technology in their homes
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (UHP) are supporting Plymouth Community Homes (PCH) on a ‘digital living lab’ project which will explore the impact of digital health technology within the homes of PCH residents.
Working with the Centre for Health Technology at the University of Plymouth and Livewell Southwest, the project is funded by global IT firm Cisco, through their Country Digital Acceleration initiative, bringing new partners into The Lister Alliance, a healthcare innovation programme.
The project aims to establish a ‘Plymouth Living Lab’, seeking to address frailty management in the home environment, supported by PCH’s ‘Health and Housing’ partnership with Livewell Southwest. Led by the Centre for Health Technology at the Unviersity of Plymouth and PCH, the ‘Plymouth Living Lab’ is set to be one of the largest in the world, and will be developed by a network of local, national and global partners, which include UHP, Livewell Southwest, Plymouth City Council, NHS Devon and Health Innovation Southwest.
The Lister Alliance’s mission is to embed digital technologies seamlessly across the NHS. They work with NHS Trusts, key partners and academics to create Living Labs, demonstrating new ways to deliver accessible, efficient and personalised healthcare. PCH is a high performing housing business and Plymouth’s largest social housing landlord, with over 16,000 properties providing homes for more than 35,000 people.
The project will focus on older individuals with frailty, and PCH residents will be provided opportunities to help co-design technology, such as sensors in the home and wearable devices. Piloting these various new technologies, that aim to help them remain independent in their own homes, will support the system shift to care delivery away from hospitals to care in peoples’ homes.
This research aims to demonstrate whether and how home-based technologies can both improve the health and well-being of older people with mild to moderate frailty. Wider use of home-based technology supports the management of conditions and care in the community, prevents deterioration and reduces hospital admissions, offering better quality of life for individuals and reducing pressure on the NHS, supporting the local health system and its staff.
At this early stage of the partnership, the investment secured from Cisco will support a PCH based user engagement researcher. This researcher will work with residents, staff, medical professionals, social care staff, and other voluntary organisations to support the co-design, piloting and evaluation of the home-based technologies. Creating a collaborative and safe environment for new technologies to be tested directly with the end users.
Rachael Fox, Partnership Project Manager, said: “The Health and Housing Partnership is all about how we can work together with other organisations to deliver services that support the health and wellbeing of our residents. Enabling them access to test new technology that supports their independence at home is an exciting step forward’’.
“I am proud that PCH is leading the way in bringing housing and health services together. The ‘Plymouth Living Lab’ gives our residents an exciting opportunity to support our local health services, transforming the way they deliver care in the community, and shaping how the system can support people to remain independent in their homes’’.
“I look forward to sharing more with our residents as the project develops.”
Jonathan Cowie, Chief Executive at PCH, said: “We are very proud to be pioneering Plymouth's Living Lab project through our partnership with Livewell Southwest, and it's exciting news this w]ill one of the largest ‘living labs’ in the world.
"Working with world class organisations including the Centre for Health Technology and CISCO will allow us to form new global partnerships as well as creating positive outcomes for our residents, who will not only play a key part in this exciting research but be able to benefit from brand new technology to help them in their daily lives.
"Projects like this demonstrate the real, tangible impact partnership working can bring about, for local people as well for innovative technology companies, and I'm delighted PCH is leading the way in demonstrating this."
Professor Sheena Asthana, Director of the Centre for Health Technology, said: “There is an urgent need to shift the balance of care from expensive, reactive hospital treatment to prevention, earlier diagnosis and care within the community (the ‘shift left’ agenda). Digital transformation can support this agenda. To date, however, digital innovations have tended to be introduced in acute as opposed to community settings, supporting hospital discharge rather than hospital avoidance. By providing the necessary conditions to develop home-based technologies that work for end users and support the need to shift left, the Plymouth Living Lab will be leading the way in helping us to visualise what safe, effective and cost-effective health and care could look like in the future.”
