Project LATITUD: Workshop for professionals on non-face-to-face care

On the 16 and 17 of September, two sessions were held as part of the LATITUD project involving health sector professionals. The purpose of these sessions was to discuss the conceptual framework of non-face-to-face services in Catalonia’s public health system. The LATITUD project, which the Ministry of Health commissioned the Fundació TIC Salut Social to carry out, aims to provide a strategy for the implantation of a Non-face-to-face Healthcare Model at SISCAT.

In the two sessions, a total of 21 attendees came from all disciplines. These included members of the Board of Directors, heads of IT systems, managers, innovation directorates, care offices, nursing staff and pharmacy.

The sessions’ objectives were, first of all, to inform everyone of the work carried out by the Foundation, with regard to defining our non-face-to-face strategy.

Second, to share a conceptual framework which establishes the scope of what is meant by non-face-to-face care and, through which the different non-face-to-face scenarios are defined.

Finally, evaluate proposals for non-face-to-face care to be used by SISCAT, classify them according to the probability of them being adopted and become commonplace in everyday clinical practice, while identifying any advantages or barriers to this happening.

The participants were invited to share their experiences, visions for the future and key aspects in the definition of a non-face-to-face model which safeguards the quality of the health service’s objectives, plus equality of access and sustainability. Some of the key aspects to be addressed were the following:

• Scenarios of care between professionals, and between professionals and patients.
• Personalization of services according to the user profile.
• Leadership in telemedicine initiatives and projects.
• Legal, ethical and safety framework.
• Management of data generated in non-face-to-face interactions.
• Integration and interoperability of solutions.

In addition, one of the key aspects which was discussed was the identification of levers and barriers to the deployment and adoption of non-face-to-face solutions. One of the main levers, is the existence of a service-oriented contracting model, which sees non-face-to-face activity as part of a health centre’s activities.

Also discussed was the design of a relationship model governing interactions between the health professional and the patient which facilitates the prescription of non-face-to-face care (single portal), a regulatory framework for quality and data protection, an integrable and interoperable infrastructure, and the existence of a deployment strategy which involves all the stakeholders in the provision of services. Barriers were largely seen to be the lack of resources for technology investment, resistance to change by professionals and patients, and certain deficiencies in the field of digital competences concerning the use of new technologies.

As a result, the workshops allowed us to obtain highly relevant contributions from health service providers, for the construction of a non-face-to-face model which meets the sector’s real needs.

The Foundation would once again like to thank all the attendees for their participation, which will bring added value to the activities that are underway within the LATITUD project, for the construction of SISCAT’s Non-Face-to-face Attention Model.