The municipality of Palaio Faliro is one of the most historic municipalities in Athens. It is situated in the
southern sector of the Region of Attica and has a population of around 100.000. It is a densely populated urban centre and also has considerable tourism and recreational activities in its development since it has a well-developed seafront. Together with the neighbouring Municipalities of Alimos and Agios Dimitrios, a population of about 250.000 citizens is covered.
Since 2010, a new legislative framework (KALLIKRATIS) has set out the boundaries for health and social services at regional and municipality level. Primary care, public health, prevention, health promotion, health education and social services will gradually be planned, provided, financed and monitored by Municipalities, having as a start point the beginning of 2013.
Due to serious fiscal constraints, municipalities face the dilemma of either cutting back services or excluding certain categories of citizens from social and healthcare services. This is, however, unacceptable according to the philosophy of local authorities; as a result, a strategic decision has been made to support the introduction of innovative technologies (mhealth and p-health) into everyday healthcare and social care delivery. Organisational changes aiming to integrate care to cut down costs and improve continuity of care are also put in place. The strategic inclusion of ICT services in the newly introduced integrated care services result in care provision schemes that follow the current state-of-the-art citizen-centred health and social care.
In accordance with the above, in November 2011 a pilot project commenced where early diagnosis services and health monitoring indicators in the community are provided through telecare to all citizens in the municipality.
The model relies on multidisciplinary teams of community healthcare professionals recording basic health indicators in the PHR using mobile health devices. The pathologists or GP, situated in the municipality care centre, overview the data; according to the results, a decision is made for referral, monitoring of citizens in local Social Care Units (KAPI) or monitoring at home. The telehealth model is also used to educate patients and healthcare professionals in health promotion and health prevention activities.
MPF will be one of the two Greek end users for SMART BEAR with a recruitment ratio of approximately 500 patients. The elderly population is estimated at 10.000 citizens, out of who more than 60% attend the municipalities Open Day Care centre for the elderly and relative local services (e.g. Cognitive Impairment centre, municipal surgery for prescription purposes etc). MPF personnel of all disciplines will undertake all piloting tasks with training and support from the other Greek partners but also benefit from the European dimension of the project and the exchange of best practices with similar entities.
Website: https://palaiofaliro.gr/