More independence through telehealth
“Over the past two years, the Netherlands has become more and more aware of the increasing pressure on the healthcare system. The focus has mainly been on the number of hospital beds and ICU capacity, but staff shortages is a problem throughout the entire healthcare sector and demand will further increase in the future. As such, giving the healthcare sector a sustainable perspective requires creative and innovative ideas. Extra money and extra staff alone are not going to solve the problem; we have to work smarter with the resources we have. In our experience, digitalization is one of the key changes to achieve this.
Increasing patients’ independence could be a solution to some healthcare issues – and this is something KPN Health is eager to contribute to. Telehealth is becoming smarter and can relieve some of the burden on healthcare professionals, caregivers and clients. A key success factor here is to have the right focus on the impact and adoption of technology. At KPN Zorgvrij, we build the technology around healthcare processes, not the other way around. By providing caregivers with telehealth and smart IT solutions, we can support them in their work.
"Sound guidance is key to the success."
One good example of this are the care instructions for the elderly, who often require increasingly complex care. The emphasis on living at home for longer means that elderly people only become eligible for a nursing home once they are really no longer able to live independently. With our telehealth proposition, we offer a solution to both the cure and care market to support the Netherlands’ aging population. We serve several groups: the elderly living at home longer (extramural); the elderly or people with disabilities in nursing homes (intramural); and people who can no longer live independently but for whom there is no place in a nursing home yet, e.g. people with dementia who, through technology, can often be helped to continue to live responsibly at home.
Healthcare professionals often fear that more technology means greater distance from the client, even though in practice they get more time and a better overview. Over the past few years, KPN has learned many lessons in this area about what works and what does not work. Sound guidance is key to the success of a new telehealth system, as evident from a number of nursing homes run by Zorgspectrum Het Zand. They rolled out a new telehealth system, with a lot of focus on change management and adoption. The use of alarm systems and lifestyle monitoring allowed clients to get maximum freedom of movement within their living space. All information was conveniently and clearly integrated into one device, allowing healthcare professionals or caregivers to spend more time on personal contact. The solutions for more independence offer peace of mind, safety and security, for both the client and the healthcare professional.”
