Experiencing NWE-Chance: Innovation, infrastructure, and investment

On 25 January, Dr Astrid van der Velde of Isala Heart Centre in the Netherlands was one of 75 speakers at AgeingFit 2021. On a panel about innovative organisational models for home-based care and services in Europe, she updated an audience of more than 80 participants about the hospitalisation at home collaboration of NWE-Chance. The attendees came largely from countries around northern Europe.

The two other panellists were Fredrik Gulowsen from Nyby (Norway) and Henry Quinn of NHS Dementia (Harmonia) Village (United Kingdom).

The panel’s focus was on scalability into other regions and countries, and sustainability of the initiatives. Key was how to spread services beyond the borders of one’s own location and country through good organisation and investment. Brought together in one spot were insights from three innovative types of organisations: platforms, care homes, and the hospital at home.

NWE-Chance is especially bringing together nurses and cardiologists to support heart patients in their own homes, by using services supported by the use of mobile phones and the cloud.

Overall discussion focused on how to bring together different stakeholders; how to build up platforms and networks; how to go beyond pilots; and how to find ongoing funding. The three panellists gained a lot from sharing each other’s experiences, and pledged to remain in contact. As Dr van der Velde reflected:

“I learned a lot about how we share common challenges in Europe in our support of local communities and geographies.
It is good to share tips and tricks about what works best in terms of scaling-up. It makes absolute sense for NWE-Chance to start focusing now on what’s cost-effective and how to invest in our future. As a result, we started to explore the MAFEIP tool.”

This year, AgeingFit2021 gathered together 700 delegates from 50 countries. The conference hopes to hear from initiatives like NWE-Chance again in January 2022 to learn about progress made over the past 12 months.

Both NWE-Chance and the NHS Dementia (Harmonia) Village (United Kingdom), have benefitted from the funding and collaboration implicit in Europe’s programme. NWE-Chance is supported by Interreg NWE under grant agreement number NWE 661.