A new hub has been launched to make it easier for health, care, and housing professionals to prescribe equipment that enables vulnerable people to live independently.
ProAssist has been created by leading charity The DLF in partnership with TSA, the national body for technology-enabled care (TEC) services.
Professionals will be able to use the hub to access a secure, reliable, independent, and comprehensive resource where products are accompanied by clinical observations, case studies, user guides, videos, and information on local suppliers.
With a searchable database of over 10,000 products from more than 900 retailers, the UK-wide resource helps identify the options across a wide range of technologies, from the latest digital devices to simple aids.
DLF ProAssist has been developed in collaboration with practitioners and supported by market-leading TEC firm Tunstall Healthcare.
In addition to the in-depth product information provided by the service, users also have access to reports, case studies, and research relating to the solutions.
Users and professional bodies can submit documents for publication and wider sharing and log clinical observations about the equipment they have deployed.
Over time, the DLF says these observations will build into a bank of feedback on product effectiveness, providing the UK’s only collaborative hub of its type with shared experiences.
Designed to be flexible and easy to use, DLF ProAssist will learn from users so that it prompts and highlights further solution options to provide a more holistic outcome.
Clare Barber, who manages the DLF for Professionals programme, said: “We want prescribers to have the confidence to consider recommending items from a number of product categories, combining TEC with more traditional solutions.
“DLF ProAssist will enable the user to quickly produce proposals, case notes, and reports to support their decisions.
“This will be the first central national resource of its type for professionals involved in assessing for independent solutions combining impartial information and advice and shared clinical feedback.”
Users can navigate the tool in a number of ways including by functional need and by simple search, focusing more on outcomes.
The DLF is the first organisation to adopt an international classification system based on ISO standards for assistive technology that organises products according to functional need, an approach that occupational therapists in particular will instantly recognise.
Alyson Scurfield, chief executive of TSA, said: “We want to encourage greater involvement and faster adoption of TEC, and this new tool will enable users to confidently engage with technology that can improve people’s lives.
“We believe it has the potential to help raise standards at the same time as speeding up people’s access to personalised tailored solutions that are right for them.”
Gavin Bashar, managing director (UK & Ireland) of Tunstall Healthcare, said: “TEC solutions will play an increasingly important role in how we support people with long-term health and care needs, as well as achieving the aims of the recent Health and Social Care White Paper.
“Tunstall recognises the need to invest in the development of health, housing, and social care professionals to help them identify solutions to support outcomes and develop a technology first approach as we move towards a more empowered and proactive approach to care.”
Image: everything possible/Shutterstock
Read next: How adaptation support helped one resident get her life back
Are you a social housing professional? Sign up for a FREE MEMBERSHIP to upload news stories, post job vacancies, and connect with colleagues on our secure social feed.
