Purpose-fit technical infrastructure

SmartCare’s main aim is to implement and validate ICT based support for integrated healthcare, social care and self-care (informal care), for different health / living conditions, along integrated care pathways for improved health and wellness. This integrated care is to occur mainly outside the hospital, in the home or community of the care recipient (CR). Many stakeholders are to be served by the integrated service model: healthcare providers, social care providers, informal care providers, third sector care providers, and the care recipients / patients. Each of the stakeholders has a different perspective, and needs access to services and information at different levels of detail and points on the pathways. It is hoped that an integrated platform and service model will allow for appropriate access by each stakeholder, as well as provide an integrated view of the CR's needs in the clinical and social realms.

The care pathways developed in the first work packages provide the starting point for the development of the technical specification, as ICT components support the care pathway workflows and use cases.

Technical specifications were produced as an overlay to the original pathway, listing IT infrastructure components (such as LAN, wireless networks, databases), IT systems (such as electronic health records, telehealth devices), and functionalities needed for each step.

Defining the SmartCare System

The SmartCare project developed two care pathways that used similar functional blocks:

• enrolment and consent
• integrated care plan
• on-site provision of care
• remote provision of care through telemonitoring or telecare
• documentation of care
• assessment and re-assessment of care needs
• exit from the service. 

Each of the deployment sites used different IT to support the functional blocks for the care pathways.

 These functional descriptions are shown in the table below along with input, output, users, system interfaces, possible communication methods and standards, and possible messaging methods and standards.