As we were passing: Treatment

A number of residents of any localnet district will be in need of some form of medical treatment. This could range from simply being handed the appropriate set of pills twice a day to full bed care.

This section discusses:

• the Existing provision of this service: What, How, How Often, Costs, Providers and Trends
• the Proposed provision with localnet: What, How, How Often, Costs, Providers and Evolution
• how the existing and proposed services compare

Existing Provision

What

The traditional British health visitor on his (or historically, almost exclusively “her”) bicycle is probably well outnumbered by those driving from visit to visit.

How

 

 

Volume and Frequency

Ranges from weekly to multiple times a day.

Financial Model

Varies throughout the UK

Providers

Primarily provided by national health services but also charities, volunteers and private companies.

Trends

With Localnet

What

The existing home based healthcare should be extended as a result of localnet presence in an area. The ready availability of transport and deliveries to and from homes allows simple extensions such as free same-day delivery of prescriptions.

How

A significant proportion of localnet staff could be trained in basic healthcare procedures - such as checking on the elderly and vulnerable, helping them to take their medicines on a regular basis. This would be a natural extension of the first-aid training that many would be expected to undertake anyway. Other members of staff will be qualified nurses or other healthcare professionals who can undertake more specialist tasks.

With the ready availability of both electric cars and space on localnet vans, each area can use the optimal mix of “pick-up/drop-off” versus self-drive to satisfy the needs of the residents.

The distinctions and boundaries between services should also blur. A single visit can achieve the same as health visitor call and a meals-on-wheels delivery for example.

Volume and Frequency

Localnet reduces the cost of travelling between properties, allowing more frequent visits to more people within a given budget.

This, in turn, can change the way in which medicines are prescribed. It may be better, for example, to supply smaller quantities of drugs but on a more regular basis. This not only allows the usage to be tracked more closely but also reduces the opportunity for overdosing somewhat.

Financial Model

Carving up the costs of care in the home when provided via localnet will be a challenge. By having more, multi-skilled staff available, services can often be added for marginal cost without incurring a whole additional body.

Providers

A lot of day-to-day care could be given in the most efficient and, importantly, most friendly way by the localnet staff. Dedicated healthcare providers could (a) oversee this provision (b) train the localnet staff in basic techniques and (c) carry out the more demanding tasks with their own qualified staff.

Evolution

As the proportion of elderly in the population continues to grow, so localnet will allow more to remain independent for longer. Even though someone can no longer drive or walk to the shops, localnet helps the shopping come to them and can transport them from their doorstep to the shops. Providing additional care and treatment in the home will allow people to stay in their own homes for even longer.

 

Comparison

The table below assesses the impact of localnet on this service on a scale of -5 to +5 (details here)

	Existing services	As part of localnet	Score
Scope
Frequency
Security
Convenience
Cost
Quality
Carbon Footprint
Time
Resources Used
Reuse & Recycling
Landfill Waste
Other Differentiators