Microsoft Launches First Worldwide E-Services for the Elderly

BILBAO, Spain - World’s largest ageing care city, Sun City in Beijing, China, leverages the technology to cut costs, improve care delivery; UK’s Medway delivers e-services to thousands of older people for personalised and self-directed social care.

Microsoft Corp today announced the launch of a worldwide e-services platform for elderly care at the third Local and Regional Government (LRG) Solutions Forum in Bilbao.

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Driven by the needs of a globally ageing population, budget restraints and higher expectations of healthcare provision from citizens, Microsoft Citizen Service Platform (CSP) is set to revolutionise the delivery of elderly social care service around the world. As part of the early adoption programme, UK-based Microsoft partners Cerrus International Ltd and CareWorks Ltd have already rolled out the e-services platform to large elderly communities in China and the UK.

Microsoft Citizen Service Platform has provided the basis for the Cerrus International Saturn 3 technology system currently being used to deliver personalised elderly care. The forum will showcase how the Saturn 3 system has transformed the delivery of care services across Sun City by enabling the monitoring and movement of patient data and providing a personalised continuum of care while helping to reduce costs and many of the complexities associated with the provision of elderly social care.

Situated on the outskirts of Beijing, Sun City is the world’s largest ageing care city. Built on around 100 acres of land with a combined construction area of around 75 acres with 56 acres of residential buildings and 17 acres of public facilities, Sun City provides care for 7,000 older people through a variety of assisted living facilities. Personalised, one-to-one care support is widely available alongside hospital, medical, health management and Chinese medicine therapy treatments.

With China’s ageing population estimated by Cerrus International at 153 million people and the problems associated with an ageing population becoming increasingly apparent, Chinese government national healthcare reform has sought to work with worldwide partners to deliver effective systems to increase the supply of community healthcare across the country.

Stewart Maxwell, CEO of Cerrus International, said, “China has the largest ageing population in the world and, as such, needs a world-class solution to help it meet the goals of its recent healthcare reforms. This is the largest community ageing system of its kind and truly validates Cerrus’ offering as a basis for a national care system. To deal effectively with the growing ageing population we need care homes, care villages and care cities which are hubs of local life. We need to provide a range of flexible care services and cater for increasingly diverse populations, which working with a partner such as Microsoft Citizen Service Platform enables us to do.”

Speaking about Microsoft’s launch of e-services for the elderly, Bruce Greenstein, managing director for Health and Social Services, Worldwide Health at Microsoft, said, “Social care is a key focus area of Microsoft Citizen Service Platform. Microsoft technology provides both a vision and a solutions platform architecture that seeks to deliver economies of scale and flexibility, providing governments with the tools they need to balance ever-shrinking budgets against the needs of an ageing population and rising citizen service expectations. Technology has an important role to play in the drive for personalisation and self-directed social care. By using technology to empower both workers and citizens, we can revolutionise the provision and delivery of social care worldwide as seen through the Sun City and Medway Council projects.”

Microsoft Technology Reforms Elderly Care Services in the UK

With an ageing population stretching public resources, elderly care services in the UK are experiencing significant change as each local authority in England is tasked with moving towards a self-directed model of care where individuals help determine their own care requirements.

Using Microsoft Citizen Service Platform, CareWorks has developed a new management system called CareDirector, which allows the public to direct and manage their own social care. CareDirector maximises the opportunity to self-service via the web and reduces the cost of social care support. Because CareDirector is the first and only social care software company built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM technologies, CareDirector allows service users to interact more effectively with the Council, putting people at the centre of social care and improving the quality of support.

The forum will showcase how Microsoft technology and CareWorks have applied the principles of customer relationship management to the world of adult social care. The forum will explain how customer service technology is providing local governments worldwide with the vital tools they need to deliver citizen-focussed and cost-effective social care through the example of Medway Council (Kent) in the UK.

Medway Council is a unitary authority situated in North Kent in the southeast of England. Medway’s Adult Social care department provides care for 10,000 adults and older people. The growth in Medway’s older population (predicted growth in the number of people over age 60 between 2003 and 2028 is 75 per cent, according to Cerrus International), which is reflected nationally, has resulted in a fundamental change in the way that social care services are provided. As such, Medway’s Adult Social Care department and CareWorks have been working together to develop ways in which the increased involvement of older people provides service users with more choice, more access and more freedom.

Commenting on the implications of this new system to the Medway region, John Goodhew, business development officer at Medway, said, “CareDirector is set to revolutionise the way social care services are delivered at Medway. The new social care agenda requires information systems that are more agile and allow service users to interact more effectively with the Council. CareDirector will harness the power of the web, maximising the opportunity of online self-service. We are delighted to be working with CareWorks to cement our vision to deliver citizen-focused care services.”

Michael Dolan, managing director of CareWorks, said, “Our vision and supporting technology is first and foremost about delivering benefits to people and empowering them to take control of their lives. This is a pioneering example of social care transformation in the UK, and we are proud to be partners alongside Microsoft in this ground-breaking project.”

Further information about the third Worldwide Local and Regional Government Solutions Forum can be found online at www.microsoft.com/emea/presscentre/LocalRegionalForumVPR/default.mspx

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