The NWE-Chance project is coming to an end soon and is therefore in position to share the results of its feasibility, the lessons learned and its plans for promoting hospitalisation@home further. The project team will offer their conclusions at AgeingFit 2022, during a half-day joint event, organized with Passion HF.
Hospitalisation@home: Why?
Ideas about and use of hybrid models of care were emerging in 2021 because of the intensive use of digital health during the series of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. During 2020-2021, patients and health and care professionals have been exposed to new ways of interacting with each other. As a consequence, the delivery of care was transformed, based on people’s experiences of combining traditional care with new ways of working and receiving care. Needless to say that this is becoming even more important in the current times, as being hospitalised safely at home is often more attractive than being admitted to hospital.
The project NWE-Chance has investigated how different digital health devices can be integrated in a single platform. After the necessary technical development, the project has tested the platform in a feasibility study where patients who are recovering from heart failure have been admitted at home.
The safety and quality of the patient’s treatment needed to be maintained at least at the same level at home as in the hospital. This is where the technology – and the integrated platform being developed in NWE-Chance – came into play and supported nurses in their daily job.
Furthermore, experience at the Isala Heart Centre Zwolle hospital, in the Netherlands, demonstrated that being hospitalised at home is also a beneficial experience for vulnerable patients. When patients are hospitalised at home, Isala has indeed noticed reductions in the risk of hospital-acquired infections, delirium, and accidents from falls. It has even observed that hospitalisation at home stimulates patients to be more active.
Going further
One of the project's goals was the launch of an “Innovation Hub”. Initially developed to support innovation for patients suffering long term heart conditions, the Hub will be expanded to encompass other conditions such as COPD and Diabetes and link with other Health Innovation Hubs in Europe to provide network specifically designed to promote innovation and collaboration for all aspects of home hospitalisation.
Through this Innovation Hub the project will reach out to all stakeholders (hospitals, technology partners, government, insurers, patients, etc.) and share expertise and lessons learned, making new partnerships, integrating and extending the technology platform and moving forward to high-quality home hospitalisation strategies supported by the most innovative technology.
It is envisaged that the Innovation Hub will provide a rich source of quality content.The aspiration for the Innovation Hub is that it will become a “Centre of Excellence” for all things associated with home hospitalisation and will develop over time to become self-sustaining through collaboration with health & care providers, industry partners, insurers, academia and SMEs.
What is in it for you?
With its half-day event hosted on March 2 2022, from 9 to 12.30, in AgeingFit 2022, NWE-Chance will offer its conclusions and lessons learned to:
- Hospital managers to learn about how to adapt the organisation and what kind of impact can be expected in terms of health outcomes and resource use
- Users, i.e. health professionals, patients and their informal carers, to learn about how the NWE-Chance users have perceived the benefits and drawbacks of hospitalisation@home
- Technology providers to learn about how the NWE-Platform has integrated the solutions three technology providers and how it can do more.
To learn more and register for the event, visit the AgeingFit website.
Watch a 5-minute video to learn how the Hospitalisation at Home Platform works in practice.
