Monitoring technology in social care could free up two million bed days and save over £1.2bn for the NHS, according to new report
- New report highlights major potential of lifestyle monitoring technology to address immediate system-wide crisis across health and social care
- Thousands would avoid hospitalisation from earlier detection of illness
- Thousands more would be able to stay in their own home, avoiding more expensive residential care
- Use of tech could save billions for councils and NHS by 2035 and have rapid impact on accelerating hospital discharge
The NHS could save more than £1.2 billion through widespread use of new non-intrusive lifestyle monitoring technology in social care according to a new independent report. More than two million hospital bed days could be saved, and the extra capacity created in social care able to fund the equivalent of 10,000 additional full-time carers in the system by 2035.
These findings are part of new analysis commissioned by health-tech company Lilli to make the case for urgent digitisation across the health and social care sector. The report uses data from multiple local authorities across the UK who are currently using the AI-driven monitoring technology to address the growing care deficit and mounting social care crisis.
Titled ‘From passive to proactive: How monitoring technology can help to solve the health and social care crisis’, the report follows recent social care promises from the new government to accelerate the adoption of technology in health and care and highlights the ‘domino effect’ that proactive monitoring employed in social care can have not just on council resources but also the NHS and patient outcomes.
It identifies hospital discharge as a key area that can see a significant impact from the technology. Earlier discharge would amount to 2.3 million additional bed days and almost £1.2bn in savings for the NHS, due to reduced costs of providing beds for patients over the next ten years – enough to pay the salaries of 2,000 nurses over the period. It would also lead to better health outcomes for the many thousands of people experiencing delayed discharge every day, with extended stays linked to higher risk of infections, adverse drug reactions and readmissions to hospital.
Likewise, the report finds adopting monitoring technology now would save councils £3bn by 2035 by supporting people to live independently at home for longer, and preventing thousands of people entering more expensive care settings, such as residential care. The productivity benefits would help to address the workforce crisis in care, by generating additional capacity equivalent to having 10,000 extra care workers.
Lifestyle monitoring technology works by tracking patterns of behaviour and key indicators of health, such as movement, eating and bathroom activity, and alerting carers to any changes. This allows care professionals to quickly make accurate care assessments, and safely monitor people’s health at home remotely, while being on the front foot to proactively spot signs of health decline before conditions require hospital treatment. Urinary Tract Infections have been identified as a key area where monitoring technology can help prevent hospital admissions.
According to the report, produced by economists at Policy Points, “there is strong evidence that lifestyle monitoring technology can generate essential, big-ticket savings for both the NHS and for social care, creating a digital dividend by protecting scarce hospital resources at the same time as boosting the productivity of carers”.
Kelly Hudson, Chief Executive Officer at Lilli said:
“Right now, the people who need care are not getting the help that they should, and the problem will only get worse as the population ages. The numbers in this report speak for themselves. The savings and productivity figure highlight the profound difference that an investment in technology now would have not just on the system but on the lives of people up and down the country.”
Lifestyle monitoring technology Lilli is currently being used by multiple councils across the UK, including Islington, Nottingham and Reading, to enable people to live safely and independently at home.
Rebecca Andrew, Service Improvement Manager from Nottinghamshire County Council, said:
“The rollout of remote monitoring technology across Nottinghamshire allows our social care staff access to real time data, giving insights into a person’s behaviour over a period of time. This helps them to build a clear picture of what is going on in a person’s life and draw their attention to any potential change in their social care needs. This ensures we can put appropriate care and support in place that is personalised to the individual, and respond quickly to prevent crises, meaning fewer ambulance call outs and hospital admissions.”
The report goes on to explain how over the next ten years, the older population will ‘grow by millions’, increasing demand for its services, and for the health and care system to be sustainable, a commitment to overhauling the system at pace and scale is urgently needed. The alternative is a broken system that will continue to be reactive and is unable to meet the care needs of those who need it most.
Kelly Hudson adds:
“We are supportive of the new Health Secretary’s ambition for a ‘different politics on social care’ and we urge the new government to tackle the current crisis, proactively as they have pledged, by addressing the root cause of the issue. We are urgently calling for more support for the the sector to adopt a technology led approach to help better support the people in need, reduce wasted costs and deliver better outcomes.”
If adopted by councils and integrated care boards, the report finds that lifestyle monitoring technology has the potential to deliver the following benefits between now and 2035:
- Freeing up of 94 million hours in carer time across the UK. These productivity benefits would be worth an estimated £1.8bn to councils, allowing vital resources to be redistributed to where they are most needed.
- Savings that are the equivalent of employing an additional 10,000 full-time carers or providing care to an additional 18,000 people.
- The use of remote monitoring technology would save councils £3bn by preventing people going into more expensive care settings.
- A quarter of people receiving care at home could have monitoring technology as part of their care package – the equivalent to 147,000 people in the adult social care system.
- The NHS would gain 2.3 million bed days by using technology to speed up discharge to home care settings.
- NHS savings of £1.8m each year through reduced hospital admissions from UTIs, due to earlier intervention. These savings could pay for half a million hours of nursing time.