Based in the heart of Wellingborough, Midland Care Home is the latest addition to the Hampton Healthcare portfolio. In their 66 bed home, Midland Care Home offers general and nursing care together with specialist dementia and physical disability care.
Last autumn, the home was approached by 3Sixty Care Partnership to see if they would be interested in taking part in an innovative new service.
The Immedicare telemedicine service is delivered using high quality video calls to nurses and therapists in the Digital Care Hub at Airedale Hospital. Calls are answered by a team of clinical call handlers who are supported by a highly skilled, multi-disciplinary team of Registered Practitioners. This ensures residents receive immediate clinical assessment and advice which leads to a smoother pathway and much better experience, with the right care being delivered in the right place at the right time. Nationally there are over 500 care homes benefiting from the Immedicare service.
Helen Hepworth, Clinical Service Manager of Midland Care Home shared some problems the home faced prior to the implementation of the telemedicine service.
When a resident became unwell, we would call a GP or 111 which could often result in an ambulance being called, sometimes unnecessarily. In our experience, a resident being taken to hospital away from their home environment can cause worsening of their condition, confusion and exposure to infections.
During implementation, an Immedicare engineer visits the home and installs a Telemedicine device. The home is assigned a dedicated Relationship Manager who delivers training and is the first point of contact for the home.
Initially, we were concerned about the ease of use of the technology and potential issues with the call time and connection. We were also worried about whether our staff would be on board with using telemedicine and whether the clinical team would be as accessible as we hoped.
However, the training from the Relationship Manager eased our initial concerns. The technology is simple and user friendly, there is also great technical support in case any issues arise. Our staff have adopted the service because of how easy it is to use.
The regular use of the telemedicine service in our nursing home is taking pressure off the GP and the Out of Hours services. Our staff used to lack confidence in reporting deteriorating residents to the emergency services in case their clinical judgement was wrong, but with the assistance of Immedicare, our staff feel much more confident as they have easily accessible clinical support available to them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This really helps them to deliver the best care possible.
Immedicare has been welcomed by both staff and residents alike. The residents and their families have been positive about the service as they feel reassured that their needs are being met and they have the added benefit of being able to stay within their home environment whilst receiving clinical care.
In one particular case, we had a resident with a significant wound and were concerned about the deterioration of the wound. We were unable to get Tissue Viability specialist support and so we used the Telemedicine service for advice. The nurses at the Digital Care Hub were very helpful and were able to give us the advice we needed which meant we did not need to ring for an ambulance.
Helen summarises Midland Care Home’s experience of working with Immedicare.
We are very pleased with the service delivered by the team at Immedicare, from the relationship manager and clinical team to the administration and technical support teams. No issue is too small for them to offer us support and if we have a problem, the strong relationship between us ensures we can quickly resolve any concerns. The telemedicine service has contributed to improving the care we give in our home and we definitely recommend Immedicare to other homes.
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Immedicare provides seven care elements that benefit Care Homes, GP Practices, UCB’s PCN’s & Integrated Care Systems. Our cost effective health and care solutions reduce pressure on resources in healthcare sectors.
