GreenCare: Decarbonising the NHS through digital transformation of older adult health and social care

COVID-19对卫生和社会保健部门产生了前所未有的影响，加剧了老年人和残疾人的社会孤立，特别是在少数民族和贫困社区，在这种情况下提供良好的护理是一项挑战。大流行的影响包括面对面咨询减少，慢性病管理和非covid - 19紧急入院被忽视，以及恢复正常服务的严重积压。这严重影响了老年人和少数群体获得医疗保健的机会，他们现在面临着更大的健康风险，因为功能衰退加速，导致跌倒，这是老年人意外死亡的主要原因，NHS每年花费惊人的23亿英镑。NHS占英国碳足迹的6.3%（2710万吨二氧化碳当量），其中24%来自建筑，17%来自交通，是公共部门碳排放的最大贡献者，也是政府清洁增长战略的主要目标之一，即到2050年实现净零排放。因此，COVID-19增加了本已不堪重负且不可持续的卫生服务的负担，在人口迅速老龄化的情况下，迫切需要数字化转型来维持目前的护理标准。有强有力的证据表明，老年人预防性物理治疗/运动干预可以通过减少受伤/跌倒来增加无残疾寿命。GreenCare提供了一种首个由虚拟角色主导的交互式远程理疗系统。创新的3/4D机器视觉生物力学分析和同类领先的人工智能算法将用于精确测量关节位置和其他姿势特征，通过用户主导的移动界面设计实现按需性能评估和个性化运动干预，与初级保健电子健康记录共享数据。GreenCare直接解决了远程咨询和主动护理管理的必要性，最大限度地减少了传染病传播，帮助NHS以可持续的方式在covid后重建，延长老年人的独立生活，同时降低老年人护理NHS成本和根深蒂固的医疗不平等。通过早期远程物理干预，减少面对面门诊咨询（每次预约25- 100英镑和50公斤二氧化碳当量），并最大限度地减少可避免的住院治疗（每次急诊入院1600英镑和380公斤二氧化碳当量），为NHS整体节省14亿英镑和312公斤二氧化碳当量——NHS 2050年可持续发展目标的1.2%。

COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the health and social care sectors, increasing social isolation amongst older adults and disabled people, particularly within ethnic minority and deprived communities, and providing good care in this situation is challenging. Repercussions from the pandemic include reduced face-to-face consultation, neglected chronic disease management and non-COVID emergency admissions, and severe backlog on resuming normal service. This disproportionately affects healthcare access for older adults and minority groups, who are now at even greater risk of succumbing to ill-health, through accelerated functional decline, leading to falls, which are the leading cause of accidental deaths in seniors costing the NHS a staggering £2.3Billion each year. The NHS contributes 6.3% of the UK's carbon-footprint (27.1MtCO2e), 24% from buildings and 17% from transport, is the largest contributor of public-sector carbon emissions, and one of the principal targets of the Government's Clean Growth Strategy to achieve Net Zero by 2050\. Hence, COVID-19 has increased the burden on an already overstretched and unsustainable health-service and digital transformation is urgently needed to maintain current care standards in the face of a rapidly ageing population.There is strong evidence that preventative physiotherapy/exercise interventions in seniors increase disability-free life years by reducing injuries/falls. GreenCare delivers a first-of-a-kind avatar-led interactive remote-physio system. Innovative 3/4D machine-vision biomechanical analysis and class-leading AI algorithms will be used to precisely measure joint position and other postural characteristics, enabling on-demand performance assessment and personalised exercise intervention via a user-led mobile-interface design, sharing data with primary care electronic health records.GreenCare directly addresses the necessity for remote consultation and proactive care management, minimising infectious disease transmission, helping the NHS to build-back post-COVID in a sustainable manner, prolonging independent living in seniors, whilst decreasing elderly-care NHS costs and entrenched healthcare inequalities. Reducing Face-to-Face outpatient-consultations (£25-£100 and 50KgCO2e per appointment), and minimising avoidable hospital attendances (£1,600 and 380KgCO2e per emergency-admission), through early remote-physio intervention offers potential for overall NHS savings of £1.4Billion and 312KtCO2e---1.2% of NHS 2050 sustainability targets.