Last Updated on May 8, 2024
By 2026, the NHS and Government are set to save £1bn per year thanks to new AI-led social care model. This transformative new technology is taking the care of older people out of the hands of UK hospitals and residential care homes and back into patients’ own homes.
The transformative home healthcare model from health tech company Cera, uses preventative technology to reduce the need for older-age adults to be hospitalised by up to 70%[1]. The AI model is already preventing at least 233[2] emergency admissions a month by predicting falls, tracking symptoms and mobilising frontline nurses and carers to respond to high-risk alerts from patients’ own homes.
This is resulting in a reduction of A&E waiting times, hospital admissions and subsequent admissions to residential care homes, leading to a £1m saving to the NHS and Government.
Faculty, one of the UK’s leading technology firms, has verified these cost savings and estimates that these savings will increase £2m per day by the summer of 2025 with a further increase to £3m per day by autumn of 2026. This is equivalent to £1bn saved annually[3].
Cera hopes that its healthcare model will help the NHS free up more than 1,210 hospital bed days each month by reducing unnecessary hospitalisations. An analysis by Faculty showed that each bed costs, on average, £460 per day.
Vast increases in A&E visits over recent years have placed a growing strain on the NHS, with long waiting times leading to 250 needless deaths a week in 2023[4],[5]. Over 65’s accounted for one third of those deaths, after having to wait in A&E for 24 hours before being admitted to hospital[6]. In addition to this, over 65’s account for 40% of all UK hospital admissions and occupy two-thirds of hospital inpatient beds[7].
With an ageing population and falling birthrate, the demand for equipment that can help reduce hospitalisations is ever increasing.
Ben Maruthappu, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Cera and former frontline doctor, said, ‘I launched Cera in 2016 with an ambition to revolutionise healthcare, using technology to transform services and patient outcomes, while alleviating NHS and government pressures. […] with Cera already saving the NHS and Government £1m a day […] This only reinforces the important role technology has in transforming our health and care system.’
Cera is already in use across the UK in 150 of 382 local authorities and is being adopted rapidly across NHS integrated care boards (ICBs) with 29 of 42 NHS ICBs[8] having already contracted the new technology.
Cera is a digital-first home healthcare company that harnesses technology to bring care directly to homes.
In other news, at the annual ADASS Spring Seminar, held on Thursday April 25th, Melanie Williams delivered her first speech as the new President.
[1] The 52% reduction in hospital admissions was verified in a 2022 retrospective cohort analysis by Faculty, which was published in a peer-reviewed journal: Sage Journals: A retrospective cohort study evaluating the association between implementation of a digital care plan and hospitalisation rates for home care residents in the UK: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10848223221135560. This number has since increased in line with increased adoption over 2022 and 2023: Cera estimates current reductions of up to 70%.
[2] Cera analysis, validated by Faculty.
[3] Cera analysis.
[4] Royal College of Emergency Medicine analysis: https://rcem.ac.uk/almost-300-deaths-a-week-in-2023-associated-with-long-ae-waits-despite-uec-recovery-plan/
[5] BBC: Long A&E wait times lead to more than 250 needless deaths a week - analysis: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68707883
[6] Liberal Democrats Freedom of Information report: 100,000 elderly patients waited over 24 hours to be admitted to hospital at A&E last year: https://www.libdems.org.uk/press/release/100000-elderly-patients-waited-over-24-hours-to-be-admitted-to-hospital-at-ae-last-year
[7] British Geriatrics Society: Protecting the rights of older people to health and social care: https://www.bgs.org.uk/policy-and-media/protecting-the-rights-of-older-people-to-health-and-social-care#:~:text=The%20current%20health%20and%20social,health%20and%20social%20care%20services
[8] Adoption rate taken from new data from Cera Care, not included in Faculty’s analysis.