Telekom Slovenije d d : The E-Care Assistance Centre receives 20,236 calls and alerts in its first year of operations

Ljubljana,

Thursday, May 25, 2023

The E-Care Assistance Centre receives 20,236 calls and alerts in its first year of operations

​Telekom Slovenije and its consortium partner, the Slovenian Federation of Pensioners' Organisations (ZDUS), were selected at the public tender to implement the Ministry of Health's "E-Care at home" project in March last year. As part of the project that was launched on 14 April 2022, the European Union is co-financing the E-oskrba (E-Care) service for 5,000 eligible users from the European Social Fund (ESF) until 30 September 2023. Telekom Slovenije and ZDUS have filled all available places in September 2022, while about 2,000 users are still waiting to being using E-Care. Telekom Slovenije and ZDUS have been striving throughout to ensure additional funds that could bring E-Care to more eligible users, and to extend co-financing for the period after 30 September of this year, and until the rights from the Long-Term Care and Long-Term Care Insurance Act come into effect. The results of the survey, conducted among E-Care users at the end of 2022, show that E-Care gives them an extra sense of safety, and approximately 10% of users say that were it not for the E-Care service, they would have to move to a nursing home or would require another type of assistance. About one third of users expressed the desire to upgrade the E-Care services with remote access to a physician (telemedicine).

​E-Care is a social security service that makes it possible for the elderly, the disabled and chronic patients to live a more independent and safe life in their home environment, as it provides 24-hour connection with an assistance centre or healthcare staff and support assistance, if user needs help. The objectives of the "E-Care at home" project are ensuring a safer environment for those living at home, shortening the time it takes for help to arrive, reducing the consequences of waiting too long for help to arrive (unnecessary complications, death), raising awareness of the E-Care service, reducing Slovenia's delay with respect to availability and access to E-Care compared to developed countries, and making preparations for easing into the ability to exercise the right to E-Care from the upcoming Long-Term Care and Long-Term Care Insurance Act.

The vice-president of ZDUS Vera Pečnik described the situation "on the field". She said that among the 3,500 volunteers participating in the Seniors for Seniors programme, 2,000 are well aware of the needs for E-Care at home.

"When we launched the project, the available positions were quickly taken up, because our users did not feel as socially excluded once they were given access to a device that signals for help in the event of any type of injury at home. Our volunteers attend to 3.5-times as many seniors as are housed in institutional care, and that is why we want to have clear answers about what will happen with the project after 30 September, as well as that volunteering and E-Care remain ongoing activities in the Long-Term Care Act," added the vice-president of ZDUS.

Experience: 20,236 calls, 1037 organised assistances, emergency medical assistance required in 201 cases

In one year, between May 2022 and April 2023, the assistance centre received 20,236 calls from users of E-Care. During this period it organised assistance for 1037 users, of which 201 were such that it required organising help with emergency medical assistance. 227 users needed help because of falling in their home environment, and 126 needed help because their medical condition exacerbated.

The survey that was conducted among 500 E-Care users at the end of 2022, showed that E-Care significantly improved their feeling of safety, thereby also improving their quality of life in their home environment. People find that using E-Care is simple, and they rate the organisation of help in their most difficult moments as excellent. Most, even up to 80% of respondents, want to continue using E-Care, however, only one third of them say that they can pay for the service themselves.

The need for E-Care services in Slovenia are great, similar to many developed countries, where this has been available for decades to all those who need it (on average approximately 10% of the population, aged 65 or more). The effects of using the service are also great and measurable: nearly 10% of those using E-Care as part of the E-Care at Home project - 500 of a total of 5,000 - would have to find a new place to live or move into a retirement home, if E-Care was no longer available to them. E-Care significantly improves the safety of living in the home environment and lowers the burden on the healthcare and social care services. By upgrading E-Care with remote access to a physician (telemedicine), the effects will increase further; telemedicine will contribute additionally to the quality of life and toward even higher level of safety of seniors living at home," emphasised Peter Pustatičnik, the head of E-Care and E-Health at Telekom Slovenije.

At the end of the press event we handed out prizes, drawing the names of three random visitors to the fair, and giving them one DORO mobile phone and two annual subscriptions for the E-Care at home service. The winners will be notified at home.

Corporate Communications, Telekom Slovenije, d.d., and ZDUS

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