The care sector is understaffed, but many patients still require care. A patient who must regain their strength through drip feeding, for example, but isn’t able to control the drip feed. Or someone taking medication with a reduced effect, because it is stored at an incorrect temperature. All these people and care needs present questions the Internet of Things can provide answers for.

In home care, there is very little time left for intensive care. Everything must be done faster and faster. In order to offer patients the right services, MobileCare has devised a solution in collaboration with Vodafone. One solution enables patients to measure their condition, while the physician can monitor the situation remotely. Virtual Home Care (VirtueleThuiszorg).

More patients out and about
Patrick Landsman, Director of MobileCare, saw that there was already a lot of technology available that supports vulnerable people at home. Virtual Home Care (VirtueleThuiszorg) came into being by linking various technologies. Landsman: “Our customers can make use of the ecosystem we developed with various technical solutions. In addition to robotic walkers, we also offer care watches, GPS trackers, sensors for in the home and image contact. We also work closely with Vodafone. They provide the connectivity, supply tablets and share their knowledge with regard to the Internet of Things. This is important, because we truly need a stable and reliable connection to remain in contact with the patients and to monitor their health situation.”

Wearing sensors allows one to measure whether certain levels deviate from the norm. If something is wrong with the patient, the doctor can immediately contact them or take action. “That thought appears to reassure patients. They finally dare to go out, because they will be notified immediately if something goes wrong. That they can video call a care provider at any time also makes them feel very safe.”

Smart drip feeding
It’s already possible to use drip feeding at home with current catheters (a thin tube, through which liquid food is administered). The doctor or nurse must check, however, whether the food intake is going well and how consistently the patient is ingesting this food. In collaboration with VodafoneZiggo, Deloitte has developed a prototype for a smart home catheter that collects this data and forwards it to the carers.

In order to help patients as effectively as possible, Deloitte and VodafoneZiggo use the best equipment. This is why they are currently talking to various businesses that have experience in launching medical equipment to ensure that only the best equipment is supplied to patients.

A medication email
There are plenty of medicines that do not work properly, because they are stored at the wrong temperature. Medication for rheumatism patients, for example. These already cost the patient about 14,000 euros per year, but they quickly lose their effectiveness when the ideal storage temperature of two to eight degrees Celsius is not met. Only seven per cent of the users actually store them at that temperature. The cause for this? Changing temperatures in different parts of the refrigerator.

Dutch start-up AntTail devised the following solution for this: a sensor that is sensitive both to temperature and light. Mark Roemers, founder and CEO of AntTail: "Our data helps doctors and other care professionals check the therapy loyalty of the patient. Thanks to our app, patients are immediately notified if the temperature of their medication is incorrect. The number of correctly stored medicines has increased substantially because of this; from less than 10 percent to more than 90 percent."

More independence for the patients and less stress in the care sector: IoT can greatly contribute to this. VodafoneZiggo is using its global network to support these developments as much as possible. For more information, please visit Vodafone.nl/iot.