Birmingham City Council is one of the UK’s largest councils with social services responsibilities, serving a population of over 1 million. The Adults and Communities Directorate is in the process of a radical modernisation programme which aims to provide high quality, personalised services.

Birmingham City piloted Just Checking for assessment as part of its telecare strategy. Andrew Sheehan, Telecare Development Manager, was quick to spot the potential for using the system as a tool to plan more cost effective and personalised care. The system provides objective data on the activities of a person, living alone, who may have difficulty communicating. Just Checking enabled care professionals to see more clearly the capabilities of the person, in their own home.

In the pilot, Just Checking was installed at a point in time when there were serious concerns for the person with dementia, and it was thought likely that the person would need to move to residential care. In fact, in 9 cases out of 10, the system showed that for the time being the person could remain at home. In one case, the Just Checking charts showed that the service user did need a substantial level of support, but the objective data speeded up the decision and the subsequent process of finding a suitable residential placement.

As a result of the pilot, Service Director and lead for the modernisation programme, Berkley Broomes, made it a policy that there would be no admission to residential care for people with dementia without a period of assessment using the Just Checking system. The Just Checking system verifies if and when the person needs residential care, or whether other forms of support are more appropriate.

 "Activity monitoring helps us to personalise services for people with dementia, without over-servicing." 

Andrew Sheehan, Telecare Development Manager.

 

Financials

Annual cost of buying and running Just Checking = £644
(based on 1 system, writing off capital cost over 3 years)

Average hourly cost of home care in England = £14.50 (Source: NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre. Personal Social Services Expenditure and Unit Costs 2005-2006, NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre (2007)

Average cost of residential care in England = £405 a week (Source: Social Services Performance Assessment Framework Indicators 2004-05)

If a person with dementia was supported at home with Just Checking and a home care package of 2 half hour visits a day

Weekly cost of Just Checking is £12.40

Weekly cost of home care is 7 hours @ £14.50 = £101.50 Total weekly cost £113.90

Cost of residential care minus cost of home care/Just Checking = £405 - £113.90 = £291.10 net saving per week.

A care package of 2 home care visits a day, plus Just Checking instead of residential care saves £291.10 a week, an annual saving of £15,137

The cost of purchasing and running a Just Checking system for a year is covered if residential care is postponed for just 14 days.

Print