First local authority in Wales uses AI technology to help reduce hospital admissions
Cyngor Gwynedd and Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board work closely to adopt home monitoring technology Lilli in adult social care - the pioneering technology will be used to support individuals to continue to live safely at home in Gwynedd and prevent need for acute care services. It has already helped thousands of people in the UK to live independently at home, allowing care professionals to respond quickly to health decline and prevent crises events.
Lilli, the SaaS company using home monitoring technology to revolutionise care, today announces a partnership with Cyngor Gwynedd. In the first roll-out of the monitoring technology in Wales, Lilli will be used to support adults with a range of social care needs to live safely at home for longer and help prevent avoidable hospital admissions.
Lilli works by discreetly tracking patterns of behaviour and key indicators of health, such as movement, eating and bathroom activity, to understand someone’s routine and alerting carers to any changes. This allows professionals to safely monitor people’s health at home remotely through an app, while being on the front foot to proactively spot health decline - for instance if someone is moving or eating less, or their home is too cold. It also enables carers to make quick and accurate care assessments and understand if a change in care package is required.
By having the sensor and AI-based technology in place, Cyngor Gwynedd aims to improve care outcomes for adults at high risk of hospital admissions, and simultaneously free up capacity in the system, as rising demand continues to place significant pressure on services.
Lilli will initially be trialled with a smaller cohort of individuals that have been referred to the local authority’s community resource teams, with the local authority hoping to then roll it out further across Gwynedd.
Meilir Owen, Project Manager at Cyngor Gwynedd, comments:
“Our aim is to harness this technology to help us move towards a more proactive way of working. Lilli will be another valuable tool in our toolbox, and will help us support our staff to meet the health and social care needs of individuals at high risk of hospital admissions within their own community. Early interventions will help us to support people who draw on care more holistically, increasing their independence and quality of life. We envisage that as the program grows, we will be able to completely rethink how some aspects of care are delivered across the region.”
This development is especially welcome after Dylan Owen, Cyngor Gwynedd’s Corporate Director for Social Services, recently published the ‘Clean Slate Report’. The report identified the demographic challenges facing the authority and the new and novel ways in which services need to operate to avoid the possibility of older people’s services facing complete failure in the future.
The adoption of Lilli technology has already led to improved health and care outcomes for both social care commissioners and the health service in other regions of the UK. For example, in Nottingham, Lilli supported a 40% reduction in referrals to residential care, and helped to accelerate discharge from NHS beds by 16 days. In Medway Council, Lilli is helping hundreds to live safely and independently at home, and saving over £1.23 million in one year in the care budget. It is predicted that by 2035, a national roll out of the technology would be the equivalent of an extra 9,700 carers in the system and 2 million NHS bed days.
Kelly Hudson, CEO at Lilli, adds:
“We are proud to be rolling out Lilli for the first time in Wales, alongside the teams at Cyngor Gwynedd and Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board. Proactive care can make a profound difference in people’s lives, as well as their loved ones’ and wider communities, and we are delighted that Lilli will be helping more people in Gwynedd get the support they need in their own homes, and out of hospital.”