A new in-home care service for the elderly and patients with chronic illnesses has been launched in the UK that aims to streamline access to home care.
The service – Vida – uses a digital platform to connect patients with carers, taking level of need, care specialisation, location, culture, gender and interests into account to tailor the matches.
Vida’s co-founder and chief executive Naushard Jabir said: “Vida’s ultimate aim is to ensure the transformation of the care industry so that everyone within the care network wins.
“We want our carers to feel valued and respected, the families of our clients to feel reassured that their loved ones are safe and looked after and, most importantly, for our clients to receive the best quality of care with high levels of continuity.”
The digital platform aims to provide a fully transparent service by allowing patients to see when their selected carer is en route to their home and detailing when meal preparation, medication administration and physical therapy routines are carried out.
The start-up hopes the digitised service will eliminate costly errors and gaps in home care treatment, instead ensuring a high quality, safe and consistent service.
Vida is the first programme of its kind to be registered by the Care Quality Commission, the UK’s regulator for health and social care, suggesting a growing recognition of the potential for digital health in the care sector.
Currently available in London, the Vida service is set to expand across the UK in 2017, with plans for greater integration of medical devices into its care platform also underway.
