 Nicola Sturgeon MSP © by theSNP Scotland is increasingly seen as a world leader in telehealth and telecare, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said today, but added that she would now like to see us go “further and faster”.
Opening the second day of Holyrood magazine’s two-day telehealthcare summit in Glasgow, Sturgeon spoke of the health benefits and economic potential of developing and deploying telehealth and telecare solutions in Scotland.
She told the audience that it is “no exaggeration” to describe telehealthcare as “one of the most exciting things in healthcare today, and also one of the most important.”
The demographic projections are “mind-blowing”, Sturgeon said. According to the most recent figures from the Registrar General for Scotland, the number of over 75s is expected to expand by 10,000 people every year through to 2021. If we don’t change the way we deliver care then by the 2030s we would require an additional 10 new hospitals to accommodate them, Sturgeon said.
“I should say when I pose that as a challenge that it is first and foremost a really good thing that we have more older people because it is a sign of success. We are all living longer and healthier lives so we should celebrate it.
“But we really also have to make sure it changes and challenges the way we think about things and the way that we do things, because if it doesn’t we are going to find the way we do things right now becomes pretty unsustainable in the not too distant future.”
One of the solutions is the shift in the balance of care to treat more people in communities and in their own homes rather than in hospitals, Sturgeon said. This is a very important change, she stressed, but added that this alone will not be sufficient.
“What I think we all have to face up to is that these demographic projections tell us that we need to do much more than shift people from one part of our status quo system to another part of our status quo system. We need to do more than that, and the more that we need to do is the subject matter that we are speaking about today,” she said.
“We need to find new forms of care and support and new ways of delivering that care and support if our cherished health and social care services are going to be sustainable well into the future, which all of us want to ensure that they are.”
Scotland has a “proven track record” of delivering services in innovative ways and there is “compelling” evidence for the benefits and the potential of telehealth, she said, quoting the example of the telestroke service in Scotland. Those health boards who have used a telestroke service have seen a 151 per cent increase in thrombolysis treatment rates, compared to a 23 per cent increase for those areas providing a more ‘traditional’ service, she said. This is something that she said we have “every right to shout about and be proud of.”
It also underlines the importance of continued investment in telehealth and telecare.
“This is why I am committed to continued investment in telehealthcare and why I expect and want to see local health boards and social care authorities working in partnership to continue funding telehealthcare programmes,” she said.
” I would go as far as to say that to not build on the immensely successful development programme would not just be short sighted but it would be a real neglect of the responsibility we have to drive this forward.”
Scotland has made “good progress”, she said. However, she added that she now hopes to see us go “further and faster”.
While the health benefits are uppermost, Sturgeon said we should also “never lose sight” of the “massive economic potential” of telehealthcare. Scotland is “well placed” to take advantages of these opportunities, she said, adding that ” we should also recognise the fact that we are increasingly seen as a world leader in this area.” This presents Scotland with an opportunity to build on this platform and work with European partners to attract more funding to Scotland, she explained.
“If we are, as I believe we are, seen as the place where it is happening, the leaders in this, then that gives us an enormous opportunity to access that funding and further accelerate the pace of what we are doing,” Sturgeon said.
Overall, Scotland has a “huge amount” to be proud of but an even greater deal to be ambitious about, she said, as she urged delegates not to be put off by doubters and skeptics but instead work to prove them wrong.
“One of the great truths in life is that those who innovate, those who push forward to make progress often meet with skeptics – those in life who say it can never be done, it is too big, it is too difficult, we’ll never see that happening in our lifetime. The job of all of you in this room and your colleagues is to be the leaders, to provide the leadership, the vision and the commitment to prove the doubters wrong and to demonstrate through the work that you do that it can be done, that it will be done and we will see it in our lifetime.
Doubters, cynics and skeptics will always exist. “But those with the leadership, and the vision, and the guts and the determination usually win through, she said, adding:
“Never be afraid of innovation and change. Don’t just embrace it; be the leaders that make it happen.”
The Scottish Government will consider whether pupils across Scotland would benefit from having access to portable technology like the iPad in class, based on the experience of a number of pilots across the country.
Pilots are underway in ten local authorities, putting iPads into the hands of pupils at 20 schools across Scotland. Education Secretary Michael Russell today visited one of those pilots, at Sciennes Primary School in Edinburgh, where dozens of students in P5 and P6 classes are trialling use of the iPad in class.
In a classroom crowded with pupils, school administrators, Scottish Government officials and journalists, Russell saw students deliver a presentation on the history of games consoles, delivered using iPad apps and including a video produced on the device.
“There are a number of pilots already underway around the country, including the use of iPads here at Sciennes. I have asked Education Scotland for recommendations on how we can realise the benefits of mobile technology for all learners in Scotland, including ensuring how we get the best possible value for our schools, and whether national guidance is needed for the sector,” said Russell.
In some of the Sciennes pilot classes, students get to keep the iPads throughout the day, taking them home to complete assignments. Other classes are keeping the devices in school.
Students at Sciennes showed visiting adults not only their astounding ease with technology that most of their elders have yet to get to grips with, but also the ways the technology is being used to enrich the learning experience. Classes have set up their own ‘wiki’ pages to share information and research; can be set work by their teacher in a blog format, and return it for correction; and can use a variety of free educational applications. Over the school’s wifi network, the students also have free access to the digital collection of the City of Edinburgh Libraries.
Of course, the iPad can also be used to play football apps when you think no one is looking – although that student eventually learnt that teacher has eyes on the back of her head.
The pilot raises a variety of interesting questions – not least whether the technology can actually improve education outcomes. As well as the recommendations Education Scotland will compile, research is being conducted by Apple and by universities in England to try and establish what the impact of such pilots is. The pilot also raises issues of cost – both of the hardware and software involved – as well as safety questions relating to unsupervised access to the internet. However, the enthusiasm of the pupils and staff at Sciennes for the devices was self-evident.
What is also clear is that an iPad in every Scottish state school pupil’s book bag is not on the immediate horizon. The Scottish Government is conscious of the cost that would entail, and Russell confirmed that there is currently no budget to purchase iPads for students across Scotland.
However, the cabinet secretary declared himself to be “excited” by what he saw at Sciennes and said the Scottish pilots offer a unique learning experience around how technology can be better put to use in the classroom.
“I want Scottish school pupils to be both connected and collaborative and I want to see digital technology being used purposefully both in and out of school,” said Russell.
“The range of mobile devices that are now available and the promise of what they can bring to teaching and learning is very exciting and something that must be embraced.
“I want to drive forward a culture change in Scottish education and ensure new technologies can be embedded into learning. This is an exciting time to be at school, and we must ensure that the potential for technology to aid learning in Scottish schools is maximised.”
A number of independent schools have already rolled out similar schemes in their classrooms. Fraser Spiers, head of IT and computing at Cedars School of Excellence in Inverclyde – where every pupil has access to an iPad – called for the Scottish Government to “put an iPad in the hands of every pupil in Scotland” in an article for Holyrood Connect last year.
“Can we continue another twenty years with this disparity between the way IT is used in schools and the way it’s used in society? Can we even wait another ten? Can we prepare children for 2030 with the same level of access to IT as I had 35 years ago?”
Good morning – here are the top 10 stories in Scotland this morning:
Cameron ‘not fussy’ about timing of vote (Press & Journal)
Benefit reforms paint ‘bleak picture’ for Scotland’s most vulnerable (STV News)
Helicopter flights to resume, says company (Press & Journal)
Total gas leak operation begins at Elgin North Sea platform (Guardian)
Scottish independence: MoD ‘will want out’ of separate Scotland (Scotsman)
Tory peer says independence will happen even if SNP lose referendum (Daily Record)
Labour reach agreement with Tories to run Fife Council as minority administration (Daily Record)
First Minister acclaims 500 oil jobs boost (Herald)
Weeks to wait for full figures on council elections turnout (Guardian)
Second World War Arctic convoy veterans should be rewarded with own campaign medal, demands Keith Brown (Daily Record)
Today’s Scottish Parliament highlights:
- 9.30: The Local Government and Regeneration Committee will hold a session on the Local Government Finance (Unoccupied Properties etc.) Bill, taking evidence from groups such as the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers, Shelter Scotland, and the Scottish Property Federation
- 10.30: The Finance Committee will hear from a panel of witnesses on improving employability, including representatives of the STUC, Universities Scotland, and the Scottish Local Authorities Economic Development Group
- 14.15: Children’s Minister Aileen Campbell will lead a government debate on Scotland’s National Parenting Strategy, welcoming the wide-ranging consultation process already undertaken. Neil Bibby (Lab) has lodged an amendment calling for kinship care to be a key element of the strategy, and for the Scottish Government to honour a pledge for £10m to be spent on kinship care allowances. Nanette Milne (Con) also has an amendment recognising the role of schools
For full details of all current and upcoming Scottish Parliamentary business, check out the official Business Bulletin
It was a job that might not have existed, but today the University of Abertay Dundee has announced that Professor Nigel Seaton will be its new Principal and Vice-Chancellor.
Professor Seaton, 51, hails from Falkirk, and is a former Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Surrey and Vice-Principal of the University of Edinburgh. His field is chemical engineering, having gained his BSc from Edinburgh in 1982, followed by an MSc and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.
After working for Atkins Research and Development and BP, Seaton went on to teach at Clare College Cambridge, Cornell University and the University of Edinburgh. As Vice-Principal at Edinburgh, he was responsible for areas including strategic planning, internationalisation, student recruitment and the library, controlling a budget of £110m.
It’s a CV that Abertay will be keen to flaunt as well as put to use, following the controversy that saw the recruitment process delayed in 2011 – for a time, it seemed, indefinitely. The university was asked to delay its search for a new principal by the Scottish Funding Council, in order to explore the possibility of a merger between Abertay and the University of Dundee.
Amid accusations from opposition parties that merger plans were being forced on the institutions by Education Secretary Mike Russell, the two universities decided against a merger, paving the way for Seaton’s eventual appointment.
“It is an honour to be appointed Principal of the University of Abertay Dundee,” said Seaton in a statement. “I look forward to working with colleagues, and with our students, to build on Abertay’s record of success in education, research and knowledge transfer, and to joining the wider community in the City of Dundee.”
Nigel Hawkins, Chair of Court, added: “Professor Seaton brings a depth and wealth of experience and personal qualities to his new role. The University Court is looking forward to working with him as he assumes the leadership of the University and takes Abertay forward as a vibrant and independent university making an outstanding contribution to the local community and to Scotland and as a highly respected player nationally and internationally.
“Court has every confidence in Professor Seaton’s ability to engage with academic and support staff and with our student community in building on the firm foundations here at Abertay and in delivering on our exciting shared vision for the future.
Scotland is one of the leaders in telehealth in Europe but we need to maintain that momentum, Professor George Crooks, director of the Scottish Centre for Telehealth and Telecare has said.
Addressing the first day of Holyrood magazine’s two-day telehealthcare summit in Glasgow, Crooks, who is also the medical director of NHS24, outlined some of the thinking behind the SCTT’s forthcoming joint telehealth and telecare strategy.
“The strategy will say that we will not be looking to deploy one solution for one problem. We will look to promote not just health but wellbeing. We will empower people to make services, information and the wider community accessible to them and we have to deliver value,” said Crooks.
Technology is an “enabler”, not the “prime focus”, he explained.
“We are not going to re-engineer face-to-face care out of the NHS. Face-to-face care will always be the mainstay and the most important thing that health and care organisations can provide. But to support face-to-face service we will use all digital channels available to us to deliver health and care information and activities where it is safe, effective, evidence-based and appropriate to do so.”
To succeed, we need to work smarter and keep things simple, he said. Technology has to “flex” with the patient, allowing them to manage their conditions and also conduct their normal day-to-day activities as part of a community.
“We must be wise. If we actually use technology to keep people in their own communities but actually only allow them to be prisoners behind their own front door we have failed everyone,” he said.
Technology must also support and help friends and family, Crooks said.
“Informal carers are the most important deliverers of health and care in Scotland. If the informal carers walked away today the NHS and I think most local authority social work departments would pack-in within a number of hours, not days, weeks or months.
“…We can use technology to de-stress some of the carer’s role. We can use it to support friends and family in a whole host of different ways.”
Technology can also connect people and help them to engage and actively participate in their own communities.
Crooks continues: “If we can do that we can allow them to communicate with the broader world. They can Skype their grandchildren in Australia while monitoring their long term condition – all made simple if we have intelligent design, easy to use technologies in the home.”
There are benefits beyond the individual, however. “Moving service users into the role of producers and deliverers of care services as opposed to simply recipients is not only empowering to an individual, but can promote capacity to allow us to cope for the next 10, 15, 20 years,” Crooks said. “Technology is a very powerful way of doing that if we get the design right.”
We have built strong foundations in Scotland and our strategies are “aligned and correct” in Scotland, he stated.
“Interestingly, we also have leadership buy-in across all political parties, leadership from government and also senior clinical leaders are coming round and our network of champions is increasing month on month,” he said.
There are still a considerable number of sceptics out there and we have to recognise that, he said. However, he added: “I think we have to welcome that challenge.”
Over 200 delegates registered to attend the summit to discuss the future of telehealth and telecare in Scotland. Later this afternoon the event will also hear a presentation from Stephen Johnson, deputy direction, Head of Long Term Conditions at the UK Department of Health about the headline findings from the Whole System Demonstrator Programme, while tomorrow’s morning session will be headlined by Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon.
For further updates from the summit follow Holyrood magazine’s events team on twitter, @HolyroodEvents, Health Correspondent Katie Mackintosh @HolyroodKatie or check the hashtag #telehealthcare2012
You can read more about the next chapter for telehealth and telecare in Scotland in the latest issue of Holyrood magazine
|
"Holyrood magazine is the talk of the parliamentary steamie, providing real insight into the business of good government and legislation in Scotland. It is indispensable reading for all who need to know about the policies and politics of Scotland's democracy."  The Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP First Minister
"I hate doing interviews with people and saying 'Oh, I really like your paper...', but what I like about Holyrood magazine is that you take that good old fashioned journalist approach and tell the reader what is happening and what is going on in a factual way, and the interviews that you do give a really deep flavour of the person behind the politics."  Alastair Campbell Labour's king of spin
|
