A paper describing the results of this project and titled "The Development of a New Model For Community Telemedicine Services" ( J Thie , A McIntosh) was presented at TELEMED 2001 in London during January 2001. A copy of the paper can be obtained from Andrew McIntosh at Tunstall Group Ltd.  An abstract of  the paper follows.


The SAFE 21 project began in 1996 to define the next generation of community alarm systems, using the existing infrastructure of monitoring centres and service providers to extend availability and services to new groups of users.

A focus of this project has been the development and trialing of a telemedicine system which allows a patient at home to be  monitored.

Our objectives were to develop a system using the community alarm control centre and additional technology to monitor a patient's medical condition (heart and breathing parameters) at home, relay the data to a doctor or nurse, and to demonstrate the feasibility of delivering a community based service to a standard that is acceptable to both patients, healthcare professionals and monitoring  service providers.

In a pilot based at Newcastle upon Tyne, the Community Care Alarm Service and Regional Medical Physics Department developed and provided a service to three local hospitals.

23 patients used a telemedicine monitor in their homes for up to a week and participated in an evaluation. Clinical teams from the RVI Hospital in Newcastle and the Dryburn Hospital in Durham accessed their patients' data using a PC.

A total of 100 patient days of monitoring were conducted. 11 service provider staff were involved in delivering the service and 4 clinical professionals used the service. Patient and clinical user satisfaction was high and service provider staff agree that  monitoring at home can be performed reliably and safely by professional staff and patients through the implementation of training and new procedures and protocols.
A paper describing the results of this project and titled "The Development of a New Model For Community Telemedicine Services" ( J Thie , A McIntosh) was presented at TELEMED 2001 in London during January 2001. A copy of the paper can be obtained from Andrew McIntosh at Tunstall Group Ltd. An abstract of  the paper follows.

The paper describes the monitoring system, the service delivery process and the pilot results, which demonstrate the viability of the service.

This new model for delivering community telemedicine monitoring services can be readily applied to existing community based support services such as community alarms and NHS Direct.

Safe 21 Telemedicine work continues in Newcastle Upon Tyne with the Health Action Zone Innovation project at Shield Court. This is a nurse lead intermediate care unit supported by telemedicine links with specialist doctor and nursing staff in neighbouring hospitals.  Details of this project will be posted seperately on the database.