Parc Taulí, with the collaboration of Sabadell City Council, ICS Primary Care and Mutuam (health services, mutualism and care for dependents), has defined and put into operation a new Home Care 4.0 model, a transformative project that aims to improve care for elderly people with little social support to move towards a more integrated, efficient and person-centered model.
This new model of care is made up of a home help service with family workers who temporarily offer support in daily activities, allowing the patient to return to their home to benefit from their space and recover in their environment. In this way, admission to the acute hospital or intermediate care is reduced or avoided. This care can be complemented with additional health professionals who complement the care and help speed up recovery such as: nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists, if necessary. Through a digital platform, developed by Better Care, a company that provides solutions for the massive treatment of clinical data and a spin-off of Parc Taulí, clinical and social monitoring of people is carried out, guaranteeing direct communication between Parc Taulí, the Primary Care of the ICS and the social services of the Sabadell City Council.
From intermediate, specialized, emergency or primary care, people who may be candidates for entering this home care model are identified. Then, the SAD 4.0 coordination team, formed by Aroa Torrecabota and Àlex Frias, shares the coordination with an assessment of the patient, together with a nurse and social worker, to determine what assistance they will need. “They must be clinically stable; they could be discharged from hospital but due to lack of social support it is not advisable to do so; they could be candidates for Home Hospitalization (HAD), but are currently excluded because they do not have a caregiver at home. This project is designed for people who are 65 or older and live in Sabadell. Sometimes they are people with social support, but not enough", explains Aroa Torrecabota, operational coordinator of SAD 4.0.
The SAD 4.0 project aims to improve the quality of life of patients, avoiding avoidable readmissions, returning home sooner after a hospital stay, optimizing healthcare resources and improving the quality of care in the family environment. “This model was born after reflecting on the context of the aging population, which will increase further in the coming years. At Parc Taulí we have wanted to move forward and position ourselves as a reference in the model of integrated social and health care for the elderly in vulnerable situations.", points out the director of Innovation and Projects at Parc Taulí, Pedro Cano. The SAD 4.0 integrated care model was defined with a co-creation project in which older people and professionals from all fields participated with the methodological support of Fuelfor – The Care Lab.
Coordination with Sabadell City Council and ICS primary care in Sabadell
Parc Taulí is coordinated with Sabadell City Council and the ICS primary care in the city to identify patients. During the SAD 4.0 care process, the three institutions carry out specific monitoring of each patient to determine what needs they will have once home care has ended. “We not only seek the patient's improvement during the time of the SAD 4.0 action, but we also look to the future to manage their connection with primary care or if they will need the support of the home care or telecare system of the Sabadell City Council. The coordination of the three institutions is essential to guarantee this care during the process and afterwards. We anticipate possible needs of patients, ensuring that, once the care from the SAD 4.0 ends, all their healthcare and social needs are covered.”, highlights the leader in research and innovation in home care and care, Ester Risco.
Juan, recovering at home with his wife
At the moment, 100 patients have been able to receive care at the Home Care Service, SAD 4.0. One of these people is Juan, 88 years old, who lives with his 83-year-old wife. Last May/June he fractured his femur. Once stabilized, his inclusion in the SAD 4.0 project was assessed to facilitate his return home and avoid his admission. During this time, in the morning, a family worker went to his home and in the afternoon he received a visit from a physiotherapist to carry out the necessary recovery without having to go to any center.
Since the launch of this new project, more than 117 people from Sabadell have been able to benefit from the Home Care Service 4.0, which has allowed them to recover at home with personalized monitoring and thus avoid unnecessary days of hospital admission.
Transformative Project
The Parc Taulí Home Care Service 4.0 is promoted and financed by the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut) and is part of the four Transformative Projects of SISCAT that the institution has with the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut), such as E-Mental Health, Digital Surgery and 3D-3DAdopt implants and the design, implementation and evaluation of the palliative care model for patients with advanced chronic illness in the field of hospital centers.
The purpose of these projects is to promote the transformation of the Catalan healthcare system by promoting innovation.