Bath and North East Somerset Council shares mental health services with Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust.

David Leveridge, team leader of one of the community mental health teams was interested to test if an activity monitoring system could postpone the need for residential care. From a cost point of view, the Just Checking system would pay for itself if residential care was postponed for just 2 weeks. He purchased 10 systems with the council’s Preventative Technology Grant, and allocated them to the two community mental health teams in the Bath area.

The systems were used for assessment, with some remaining in place for many months. The data is shared with family carers who play a large role in supporting their relative at home. After 6 months a review was made of 7 cases which were being considered for residential care or hospital admission when the Just Checking system was installed. Of the seven cases, 4 continue to live in their own homes, 2 went into residential care, and 1 service user died at home.

Although it was difficult to gauge exactly when a placement would have been made and quantify how many weeks of institutional care have been prevented, the professionals involved with two of the service users expressed the view that the equipment had definitely prevented a placement from being made. In both cases the equipment had been in situ for approximately 26 weeks. The authority calculated that the savings from these two cases alone, covered the entire expenditure on 10 Just Checking systems.

A further 3 suggested that the equipment has "probably" averted a placement although it was not possible to attribute this solely to the use of the equipment.

The community mental health teams are convinced that Just Checking can help them to keep people with dementia in their own homes for longer. Plus, it helps professionals to carry out their job more effectively. With clearer information about how the person with dementia is behaving at home, the professionals can make adjustments to care packages and to medication and see the effect of these changes.

 "Just Checking made a huge difference to the quality of life for one of our service users. It enabled us to see his behaviour at night and to make adjustments to medication and support." 

Pam Jenkins, Community Mental Health Team.

The teams find the radio based system simple to install themselves. The wireless sensors are adhered to door frames using Velcro pads, and the system does not require a phone line; an integral mobile phone unit uploads the data via the mobile phone network.

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†

Average weekly cost of residential care in England = £444 †

† Source: NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre. Personal Social Services Expenditure and Unit Costs 2006-2007, NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre (2008)

If a person with dementia was supported at home with Just Checking and a home care package of 1 hour visit or 2 x 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 = £444 - £113.90 = £330.10 net saving per week.

A care package of 2 home care visits a day, plus Just Checking instead of residential care saves £330.10 a week, an annual saving of £17,165.

The cost of purchasing and running a Just Checking system for a year is covered if residential care is postponed for just 10 days.

 

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