Tunstall Healthcare is celebrating after a winning in the Active & Healthy Ageing category at the Age Friendly Recognition & Achievement Awards 2022.
The Age Friendly Cities and Counties Programme is part of a World Health Organisation (WHO) inspired movement which embraces the challenges and opportunities that our ageing population presents. It works to facilitate local authorities to take the lead on challenging perceptions around ageing, and how services are planned and delivered.
Tunstall was selected thanks to its partnership with a multi-agency Stakeholder Group (Age Friendly Ireland, Integrated Care Programme in the HSE, Wexford General Hospital, Tunstall Emergency Response, Wexford County Council-Age Friendly Programme) in County Wexford in 2021. The judges were particularly impressed with the real difference that the telehealth pilot has made to the lives of older people in Ireland.
The pilot project set out to provide a 12-week telehealth intervention to 50 patients with three identified chronic conditions (chronic health failure, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). The project was independently evaluated by Waterford Institute of Technology.
Tunstall telehealth equipment was provided to the patients for a 12 week duration. The technologies used were the ‘myMobile’ a patient app, which enables self-management and monitoring, and ‘triageManager, a clinical management software platform which enables clinical and service teams to monitor patients remotely.
James Doyle, Tunstall Emergency Response MD, said: “Telehealth is the future of healthcare as it offers services that can be designed around the patient, providing support in the community and helping to keep people out of hospital. The HSE in Ireland is committed to digital transformation and driving service improvement using technology. At Tunstall, we were delighted to be involved in the telehealth pilot - it is absolutely achievable that more people can live independently for longer at home and feel empowered to self-manage and stay well.”
Gavin Bashar, UK MD at Tunstall Healthcare, added: “It’s been an honour for Tunstall to have worked with such fantastic partners on the telehealth pilot in Wexford. The results really do speak for themselves and everyone involved deserves this recognition for the part they’ve played in supporting vulnerable people in Ireland. We’re looking forward to contributing to phase two of the pilot and reaching more citizens across the country.”
