Anywhere Care mobile telecare package for supporting patients who require assistance after hospital discharge

Key findings 

Anywhere Care is intended to replace the installation of telecare to patients’ landlines. The installation of telecare to landlines can delay discharge from hospital. Anywhere Care supports earlier hospital discharge and use of fewer resources due to reductions in landline installation and rental costs.

There was no available evidence assessing performance and efficacy of Anywhere Care. There were two ongoing service evaluations in England at the time of publication.

Anywhere Care is currently being used in some NHSScotland boards and councils with a high rural population.

It is unclear at present if Anywhere Care will be cost saving but potential savings could be made due to earlier discharge and reduction in installation of fixed telecare services.

What were we asked to look at?

We were asked to provide a high level overview the Anywhere Care mobile telecare package.

The Anywhere Care mobile telecare package consists of:

1. OwnFone: a pre-programmed mobile device with an Anywhere SIM card and simple to use customisable buttons tailored to the specific needs of the individual patient; it can store up to twelve pre-programmed numbers. The buttons can be numbers, words (in different languages) or pictures.

2. Footprint: a GPS enabled mobile-assistive device.

The devices can be used separately or as a combined package, to support hospital discharge for a wide range of vulnerable people requiring care in the community. Once an individual no longer needs them, the devices can be re-programmed and re-used by other patients.

Why is this important?

Unlike traditional telecare devices, landlines are not needed to support use of the Anywhere Care mobile telecare package as the devices allow seamless roaming of multiple mobile networks in the United Kingdom (UK) via the Anywhere SIM. Anywhere Care also enables patients to receive telecare triage, as opposed to directly calling emergency services or the hospital. Anywhere Care devices are fully mobile and allow patients to leave home and undertake their usual activities while maintaining their telecare support.

Referred by

Anywhere Care Ltd, manufacturer of the technology