Provision of Amazon Healthcare Support

Description

South Lanarkshire University HSCP was part of a Scottish consortium, including Falkirk Council, Fife Council, Glasgow City HSCP, Scottish Enterprise, Digital Office, Scottish Government, CENSIS and Amazon. The consortium jointly developed a customised Amazon Echo Show 8 with enhanced fleet‑management functionality designed to transform telecare provision. The consortium’s aim was to replace costly, limited‑function digital dispersed alarm units with consumer‑grade devices as a first step, before expanding to include telehealth, Internet of Things (IoT) sensor integration, predictive modelling and Bring Your Own Device capabilities. Lot 1: Over the past year, the Council’s Technology Enabled Care (TEC) team has been a key contributor to the Glasgow City Region Innovation Programme, supporting the deployment of devices and developing use cases and business cases to progress a scalable regional approach. Initial testing involved registering 20 Echo Show 8 devices, integrating them with the Censis Care Surround platform, and evaluating fleet functionality using the PDSA (Plan–Do–Study–Act) methodology. A further 20 Echo Show 8 devices were then deployed within the Blantyre LIFE Intermediate Care service to understand real‑world use, user experience and operational processes. Outcomes from this phase showed that service users were more confident in using technology, were independently using the devices for medication reminders, and were engaging with features such as music, radio stations and podcasts, supporting improved daily routines and digital inclusion. Building on this, the TEC team and Clydesdale locality Care at Home team are now launching a pilot to deliver virtual medication prompting using Echo Show 8 devices, with Care at Home staff providing prompts via video calls at the times set out in each service user’s care plan. The pilot aims to improve convenience, flexibility and digital inclusion while releasing Care at Home capacity to meet increasing demand. To support full scale‑up and rollout of all devices, the Care Surround subscription licensing requires extension for a further 12 months. This will provide continued access to the Care Surround software and device management platform, integration of all devices, SIM data connectivity for hub devices, up to 100 staff user accounts, and support, rollout assistance and additional functionality development from Censis