Partners

The Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Integrata di Trieste - acting in SmartCare on behalf of Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia - is one of the six entities of the Regional Health System. Its mission is to provide a range of health and social care services to citizens, including community care for frail people, emergency interventions at home with rehabilitation and personalized integrated care for chronically ill.

In SmartCare, ASUITs will be responsible for the coordination of the project and is active in the work package on piloting of the first wave pilots.

The provincial government of Kärnten (Carinthia) is represented in SmartCare through its office for social affairs (Amt für Arbeit und Soziales). In Carinthia at the present time around 7.800 clients are receiving ongoing mobile support from around 1.900 employees (trained nurses; nursing assistants, home helps). In 2000, the Regional Health Board started a telemedicine project aimed to establish coordinated telemedicine in Carinthia with services in the domain of teleradiology between hospitals, image sharing and a region-wide inpatient care record.

In SmartCare, Carinthia will consolidate these pilot projects and follow the piloting activities on the board of committed regions.

Gesundes Kinzigtal Integrated Care is coordinated and managed by Gesundes Kinzigtal GmbH (“Healthy Kinzigtal Ltd.”), a regional integrated care management company. The company was founded in September 2005 by two organisations: the local physicians’ network MQNK (“Medizinisches Qualitätsnetz – Ärzteinitiative Kinzigtal e.V.) and OptiMedis AG, a German health care management company with a background in medical sociology and integrated care management. MQNK provides medical expertise and its members, being familiar with the region and its people, are aware of the strengths and shortcomings of the region’s health care system. OptiMedis AG brings into this partnership prevention and health economic as well as management know-how and the ability to provide monetary investment. 66.6% of Gesundes Kinzigtal GmbH’s shares are owned by MQNK members; thus it is ensured that the interests of local physicians remain dominant.

The Region of Southern Denmark consists of 22 Danish municipalities with a population of approximately 1.19 m inhabitants. The region’s main task is healthcare; it has direct responsibility for the running of the region’s five hospitals. For the inhabitants of the rural areas, who are often elderly people with a frail state of health, distances to both primary care clinics and hospitals are long. This is reinforced both by the current tendency in the Danish healthcare system to centralise treatment in large urban hospitals. Demands are now surfacing for a higher degree of innovation, flexibility, and efficiency. This calls for the further development of ICT solutions for healthcare, which takes high priority in the region. RSD has become a centre for innovation in healthcare and has a strong IT infrastructure. The healthcare IT infrastructure is based on programmes for continuity of care and health agreements between the different parties in the Danish healthcare system.

Region Syddanmark (RSD) is one of the first wave pilot sites in the SmartCare project. In addition, it is leading the work package on evaluation.

East Tallinn Central Hospital is the third largest hospital in Estonia, with 626 beds and 532.932 outpatient consultations. It is located in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. ETCH has been a municipality owned legal entity since 2001. It was established by merging seven of Tallinn's healthcare institutions: four hospitals, two policlinics and one diagnostic centre.

The Tallinn Social Welfare and Health Care Board is one of the bodies of Tallinn municipality responsible for social welfare together with the District Governments. Large healthcare institutions such as Foundation North Estonia Medical Centre, East Tallinn Central Hospital, West Tallinn Central Hospital, Foundation Tallinn Children’s Hospital (total of 7.400 employees) are located in Tallinn and treat residents of Tallinn, Harju County and other areas and countries.

In the SmartCare project, the Social Welfare and Health Care Board will be supervising the Estonian SmartCare pilot in the second wave of piloting.

The Tic Salut Foundation was created in 2006 by the regional government’s Ministry of Health and its main specific objectives are to elaborate criteria, strategic orientation and useful information for the decision-making on Information and Communication Technologies in the health area. Its second mission is to introduce the newest technological applications in the health area which make the transfer of knowledge easier for health centres and professionals, thus improving the health services devoted to citizens. The Foundation is also active in domestic and international standardization activities.

SALUD is the public provider of healthcare care in Aragón and has a network composed of: 12 general hospitals, 110 primary health centres and 5 geriatric hospitals. Its vision is an outstanding healthcare service with a high level of customer satisfaction. The mission of the Aragaon healthcare service is ensuring easy and quick access to the service, understood as: promotion of healthy ways of life; prevention and protection against physical, environmental and biologic factors; provision of any care required in an illness situation; whilst keeping the highest degree of autonomy for patients in their environment and in society in order to meet all of their needs and expectations in terms of personal health.

In SmartCare, the Aragon healthcare service agency will be responsible for a first wave pilot site.

The Cruz Roja Espanola (Spanish Red Cross) focusses, among other things, on the improvement of the situation of the most vulnerable people. The healthcare services provided by Red Cross are currently running in two ways: home tele-assistance and mobile tele-care (indoor and outdoor). The target beneficiaries of such a service are elderly and victims of gender-violence.

Kronikgune is the research centre created by the Department of Health and Consumers Affairs of the Basque Country (Spain) as part of the regional Strategy to Tackle the Challenge of chronic diseases in this region. The regional government is strongly committed to the transformation of Health Systems for the treatment of chronic patients, with a strong focus on prevention and promotion, on the role and autonomy of the patient, and on assuring continuity of care; hence promoting Aging Well and the independent living of older people.

The Department of Autonomy and Promotion of Care (SEPAD) is attached to the competent Ministry in dependence matters. Its aim is to manage and administer services, benefits and geriatric problems from the Administration of the Autonomous Regions according to the objectives and principles of the Law 39/2006 (14th December) of Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Support for Dependant People; and development and coordination of social policies for support of disable and elderly people.

FUNDECYT is a non-profit organisation that has a fundamental role in economic development, structural and innovation strategy of Extremadura, encouraging technology transfer and technological development. Its main purpose is to promote projects to foster development of Science and Technology in the domain of "Science-Business Administration." This main objective is divided into the following, which constitute the main purpose of the activities and projects developed by FUNDECYT:

• Promote the implementation of the culture of innovation and knowledge in business, government and research centres.
• Promote synergies and interactions between the university, research centres, business organisations and the Public Administration.
• Provide assistance to institutions, private enterprises and research centres with the aim to obtain international, European or national finance for R+D+i projects.
• Identify the technology needs of companies and research centres, and promote technology transfer through sectorial studies, or compile and disseminate the available knowledge to improve scientific and technological development at the University, in R+D centres, and regional SMEs.
• Participate in national and international events to know the latest trends in management policy of innovation and knowledge, to transfer the results to the business.

The Fundacion para la Formacion e Investigacion Sanitarias de la Regione de Murcia is a non-profit think tank set-up by the government of the autonomous community Murcia. Its main objective is knowledge management, project management as well as research and innovation in the field of the biomedical sciences. It has a teaching and research mandate in public health, including patient empowerment and health related domains such as the environment.

The South Karelia District of Social and Health Services (EKSOTE), established in 2009, combines primary and secondary healthcare, elderly care and social care in a totally new way. The goal of this new organisation is to ensure equal access to social and health care services to all citizens in the region, across the boundaries of municipalities. The effectiveness of service delivery will be enhanced thanks to better co-operation of different social and health care organisations. One of the goals in South Karelia is to emphasise the importance of preventive healthcare and to empower citizens to take more responsibility for their own health and well-being.

e-trikala SA is an SME, formed within the Municipality of Trikala. The Municipality is the basic stakeholder, owning 99%, while the remaining 1% is owned by the local Chambers of Commerce. By creating infrastructure and by providing services, e-Trikala continuously aims to develop ICT based applications, oriented to the improvement of all citizens’ everyday life, in a medium sized city, delivering new services related to the local way of life.

The Municipality of Palaio Faliro is one of the most historic municipalities in Athens. It is situated in the southern sector of the Region of Attica and has a population of around 100.000. Since 2010, a new legislative framework (KALLIKRATIS) sets out the boundaries for health and social services at regional and municipality level. Primary care, public health, prevention, health promotion, health education and social services will gradually be planned, provided, financed and monitored by Municipalities, having as a start point the beginning of 2013. A strategic decision has been made to support the introduction of innovative technologies (m-health and p–health) into everyday healthcare and social care delivery. Organisational changes aiming to integrate care to cut down costs and improve continuity of care are also put in place. The strategic inclusion of ICT services in the newly introduced integrated care services result in care provision schemes that follow the current state of the art citizen-centred health and social care.

The Municipality of Alimos is situated in the southern sector of the Region of Attica and has a population of around 50,000. It is a densely populated urban centre and relies mainly on tourism and recreational activities for development, since it has a well-developed seafront. Together with the neighbouring Municipalities of Alimos and Palaio Faliro, a population of about 250.000 citizens is covered. The three municipalities agreed on a cooperation in late December 2011 with a common goal of enhancing the quality and prolonging the life of citizens in a very stringent financial environment. By the end of March 2012, ESF funding was allocated from the Ministry of Health to the association of Municipalities in order to implement a programme including prevention, health promotion and health education activities for diabetes in the local population, supported by the use of e-health services.

The Municipality of Agios Dimitrios is situated in the southern eastern sector of the Region of Attica and has a permanent population of around 70.970, though it is estimated that the real population of the city is more than 85.000. Agios Dimitrios is a densely populated urban centre which relies mainly on commerce and local entrepreneurship.

VIDAVO is a health telematics company, highly specialised in the eHealth domain. The company provides telematics products and services (mainly focusing on the healthcare sector), envisaging the elevation of the quality of life of all citizens and is particularly involved in standardisation/ strategy issues. The company has experience in the implementation of R&D projects and in the development of sound business cases concerning the provision of novel services, based on ICT advances and focused research outcomes. Its human capital includes specialised professionals in telemedicine applications implementation, business development and commercialisation of innovative products, assessment of innovative personalised health (pHealth) systems with emphasis on chronic disease management implementation.

The Croatian society for health economics is an NGO, which has played a key role in introduc-ing pharmaco economics and principles of health economics to the Croatian health care system and policies. The society promotes innovative approach based on evidence and science in many areas of its work including health economics, health care digitalization, public health projects based on equity and availability. More than 120 members, doctors, pharmacists, sociologists, economists and researchers from correlated areas work in teams on projects based in this region (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and Slovenia). CSPHE, leading institution for performing pharmacoeconomic and health economics studies (cost benefit, budget impact, cost of illness), tests ist own models and adapts already created ones. Moreover, the CSPHE performs several public health monitoring of compliance and indi-rect costs trends for patients with chronic diseases.

The Local Health Authority nr. 2 of Feltre covers an area of approximately 90.000 inhabitants that live in 18 municipalities and it has an area of 934.47 km². One of the main features of Veneto Region Health Model is the strong integration of health and social care guaranteed through a close cooperation between municipalities and the Local Health Authority. Due to this complex framework it has been necessary to develop and to implement an information management system in order to deliver a complex set of cares called Integrated In-home Care (ADI). The ADI involves health and social care for chronic disease patients. In addition to this, Veneto Region together with the local health authorities and the Municipalities has implemented a 24/7 Telemonitoring and Telecare integrated service. At anytime, in case of parameters over of range or call from the user, the operation center verify the signal and provide immediately to contact the competent center, both for medical, nursing, domestic or social assistance.

Smart Homes is an independent expert centre for smart houses and smart living. Smart Homes was established in 1998. Smart Homes has extensive knowledge in the area of smart houses, smart living, home networking and its use by residents. Its founder has particular experience of smart houses in the care sector, from 1992 up to the present time. From the beginning up to the present time, a lot of experience has been built up around acceptance by older people, problems with user system interaction, marketing of assistive technology, maintenance problems, cost calculations, ROI for investors, and business models. The centre carries out applied research projects in its demonstration house, the Smartest House of the Netherlands.

The municipality of Rotterdam is responsible for many matters concerning the 600.000 inhabitants of the city. The local government of Kralingen Crooswijk is responsible for welfare and activities for these groups. Central city and local government work closely together. Everyone is supported for the maximum to obtain their own care and welfare infrastructure. Within the framework of the law of social support, it means that it is expected of Rotterdam citizens that as much as possible they participate in own support, using informal care (collective networks).

Amadora is one of the largest cities in Portugal by population (despite the geographic area is only 23.8 km2 has a population of 175,558 inhabitants. The municipality of Amadora chairs the Social Network of Amadora (Rede social da Amadora). The municipality chairs this network that is a forum for coordination and pooling of efforts based on the adherence by local authorities and public or private entities for the eradication or alleviation of poverty and exclusion and promoting social development. The Social Network appears in the context of affirmation of a new generation of active social policies, based on accountability and mobilizes all of society and every individual in the effort to eradicate poverty and social exclusion in Portugal.

Portugal Telecom is the leading telecommunication and multimedia group in Portugal. The company's activity covers all segments of the telecommunications sector: wireline, mobile, multimedia, data and corporate solutions, strongly focused on the convergence of telecommunications with media and information technology areas. Portugal Telecom’s international footprint spreads to countries like Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Timor, Angola, Kenya, S. Tomé and Príncipe and Namibia. During the last two decades, PT has been an active participant in EU-funded projects and international telecommunications standards bodies (CEPT, ETSI, CCITT, ITU). The commitment to the promotion of co-operation with national and international R&D institutions has enabled PT to play a decisive role as an agent for the technological knowledge transfer between the market and the industry environments.

Misericordia of Amadora (SCMA) is a Non Profit Organisation, founded in 1987. Nowadays, the Organisation delivers daily support to 6000 Beneficiaries, in Amadora Council, and delivers Services in Geriatric; Health Cares, Social Support Education and After-School Activities, through a holistic and systemic Intervention: Gerontology and a quality support to elderly persons, it’s one of the core businesses of SCMA. Since 1987, the Organisation provides Services to elderly persons through Formal Carers. Nowadays, Misericordia of Amadora manages 2 Day Care Centers, supporting daily 100 seniors; 2 Nursing Homes, supporting daily 140 seniors; Home Support Services, supporting 139 seniors, 7 days a week; and a Long Term Care Facilities Unit supporting daily 140 seniors and vulnerable people; Meal Home Deliver Service providing 30 meals daily to the Community.

Belit ICT company was founded in Belgrade in 2000. The company has been able to establish close collaboration with financial institutions, governmental agencies and ministries. The realisation of many projects, financed by the European Union to improve the functionality of the state sector, has significantly contributed to the modernisation and standardisation of business in the country. Belit’s team of experts and professionals covers all segments of the development of information systems, namely design, development, implementation and all aspects of customer support. Through the use of the latest technologies, the creative group of engineers and programmers create highly functional, expandable, easy to use and maximum secure software solutions. Also, teams of experts deliver training, system maintenance, industrial design, and consultancy services to its clients.

The Studenica health centre is a unique medical institution that provides primary care at the Kraljevo Health, and secondary healthcare services in the General Hospital Kraljevo. Kraljevo Health provides primary care for approximately 140,000 residents living in the city of Kraljevo. The Health Department of General Medicine has 60 teams in 25 clinics in Kraljevo and one health station in Ušće. In addition, our health centre is working very successfully with other departments: the Health of children, Office of Women's Health, Department of Home Treatment, Occupational Medicine, Preventive and counselling centre for young people.

The Centre for Social Work in Kraljevo was established in 1960, and the work began in 1961. The Centre employs 49 workers. Most of the employees who perform technical and specialised tasks of social work have a higher education degree. Therefore, some of them have additional courses, training or specialisation to work in social care area. The Centre has also implemented numerous projects related to improving the situation of some of the most vulnerable groups in Serbian society. The project related to empowerment and independence of people with disabilities, called "The Word is Hope, Hope is Life", was realised with the help of the British Government.

The regional Health & Social Care Board (HSCB) commissions health and social care services for the population of Northern Ireland, circa 1.8 million. The HSCB performances manages Health and Social Care Trusts within NI and contracts with primary care providers (GPs, pharmacists, dentists and optometrists) which directly provide services, in order to ensure that optimal quality and value for money is achieved, in line with government targets. HSCB has five committees – Local Commissioning Groups (LCGs) – which are coterminous with the Health and Social Care Trusts and are responsible for commissioning health and social care which addresses the needs of their local population. The Public Health Agency (PHA) is tasked with delivering health improvement and disease prevention across NI. The HSCB, PHA and HSCTs are accountable to the Department of Health, Social Services & Public Safety.

NHS 24 and the Scottish Centre for Telehealth & Telecare (SCTT) have been positioned to establish telehealth and telecare as an integral part of service delivery in order to help the people of Scotland live longer healthier lives at home, or in a homely setting. NHS 24 is a Special Health Board providing and facilitating the development of national telehealth and telecare services across Scotland, and is directly accountable to Scottish Ministers.