The BeyondSilos consortium

The Regional Health & Social Care Board (HSCB) commissions health and social care services for the population of Northern Ireland, circa 1.8 million. The HSCB performances manages Health and Social Care Trusts within NI and contracts with primary care providers (GPs, pharmacists, dentists and optometrists) which directly provide services, in order to ensure that optimal quality and value for money is achieved, in line with government targets. HSCB has five committees – Local Commissioning Groups (LCGs) – which are coterminous with the Health and Social Care Trusts and are responsible for commissioning health and social care which addresses the needs of their local population. The Public Health Agency (PHA) is tasked with delivering health improvement and disease prevention across NI. The HSCB, PHA and HSCTs are accountable to the Department of Health, Social Services & Public Safety.

HSCB is the co-ordinator of BeyondSilos and leads work on system implementation and testing.

The Region of Southern Denmark consists of 22 Danish municipalities with a population of approximately 1.19 m inhabitants. The region’s main task is healthcare; it has direct responsibility for the running of the region’s five hospitals. For the inhabitants of the rural areas, who are often elderly people with a frail state of health, distances to both primary care clinics and hospitals are long. This is reinforced both by the current tendency in the Danish healthcare system to centralise treatment in large urban hospitals. Demands are now surfacing for a higher degree of innovation, flexibility, and efficiency. This calls for the further development of ICT solutions for healthcare, which takes high priority in the region. RSD has become a centre for innovation in healthcare and has a strong IT infrastructure. The healthcare IT infrastructure is based on programmes for continuity of care and health agreements between the different parties in the Danish healthcare system.

Region Syddanmark (RSD) is leading the work package on evaluation of the BeyondSilos pilots.

The Center for protection of the rights in the healthcare (CPRH) is an independent non-governmental organization. The organization was founded in 2007 by professionals in health and social care, jurists, economist and develops an intensive activity in the sphere of the protection of the human rights in the field of the healthcare and patient-centered healthcare. One of the strategic objectives of the organisation is to advocate and support rolling out of good practice models of ICT supported health and care services for the patients. The Center is collaborating with several organisations, including GPs, medical centers and hospitals and social care providers, such as the Bulgarian Red Cross to support the implementation of new integrated models of treatment and care for chronically ill patients and older people.

CPRH is part of the Bulgarian pilot in BeyondSilos.

Badalona Serveis Assistencials (BSA) is an integrated private health and social care organization with entirely public capital that manages the Hospital Municipal de Badalona, the Homecare Integrated service, the Socio Health Centre El Carme, 7 Primary Care Centres and the Centre for Sexual and Reproductive Health. It provides care to a total population of 419,797 inhabitants in a very populated suburban area of Barcelona. BSA has a special characteristic that distinguishes it from all the rest of the healthcare providers in Catalonia which is that it also provides the social care services for the region of Badalona and three other towns surrounding it. The union of the older healthcare-oriented infrastructure (the Geriatric Department) dealing with all kind of elderly typologies ranging from the healthy, the frail, ill, dependent or those in a late stage of life, along with a Public Social Service department, renders BSA able to complement health-related interventions with social assistance on a level of almost unprecedented process consolidation.

BSA is part of the Badalona pilot in BeyondSilos.

The Health Department Valencia - La Fe is one of the health provision areas belonging to the Health Care System of the Region of Valencia (Spain), under the umbrella of the Valencia Health Agency (AVS). This Health Department covers a concrete geographical area located in the city of Valencia and coordinates all the healthcare services provided in the territory, from primary to tertiary care, covering 210.000 inhabitants directly and a catchment area adding up to 515.000 persons. LA FE is well-known in Spain as a leading hospital in the management of several diseases, in the provision of home hospitalization services and in pursuing of the integration of all the care levels for the comprehensive case management of chronic patients at home. LA FE has already participated in several national and European projects regarding chronic disease management, reengineering of healthcare processes, home monitoring and deployment of clinical pathways.

LaFe is part of the Valencian pilot in BeyondSilos.

TSB Tecnologías para la salud y el bienestar is a company focused on research, development and deployment of ICT solutions oriented to the social and healthcare sectors for the personalized care of health and wellbeing, resulting in an improvement of the quality of life of people, and creating new business opportunities starting from its technological capabilities. TSB has the capacity to effectively evaluate and get advantage of the potential of the most relevant R&D results in this sector, to be commercially exploited, transfering to the market new solutions and products that cover the demands of our customers.

TSB is part of the Valencian pilot in BeyondSilos.

The Universita di Salerno was founded as the Salerno School of Medicine in the 8th century and was the principal institution in Europe for the study of medicine, reaching its utmost glory during the Middle Ages. The university remained active until 1811, to re-open in 1944, and currently enrols 43,000 students. In 2006, the School of Medicine was opened, and the San Giovanni di Dio and Ruggi d’Aragona Hospital, the biggest hospital of the Salerno area, was identified by a Regional Decrete and a the Italian Government as the University Hospital. The Campania Salute Project since 1999 is a Federico II University based network of Hospitals, territory outpatient clinics and general practitioners for the management of Hypertension and cardiovascular diseases in the Napoli Area. In 2012 the network has been extended to the Salerno Area, with the support of the regional government, which is willing to invest in de-hospitalization through the extension of best practice within the Region.

Univsersita di Salerno is part of the Campanian pilot in BeyondSilos.

Município da Amadora is the local government of one of the largest cities in Portugal by population (despite the geographic area is only 23.8 km2 has a population of 175,558 inhabitants. The municipality of Amadora chairs the Social Network of Amadora (Rede social da Amadora). The municipality chairs this network that is a forum for coordination and pooling of efforts based on the adherence by local authorities and public or private entities for the eradication or alleviation of poverty and exclusion and promoting social development. The Social Network appears in the context of affirmation of a new generation of active social policies, based on accountability and mobilizes all of society and every individual in the effort to eradicate poverty and social exclusion in Portugal.

Municipio da Amadora is part of the Amadora pilot in BeyondSilos.

Misericordia of Amadora (SCMA) is a Non Profit Organisation, founded in 1987. Nowadays, the Organisation delivers daily support to 6000 Beneficiaries, in Amadora Council, and delivers Services in Geriatric; Health Cares, Social Support Education and After-School Activities, through a holistic and systemic Intervention: Gerontology and a quality support to elderly persons, it’s one of the core businesses of SCMA. Since 1987, the Organisation provides Services to elderly persons through Formal Carers. Nowadays, Misericordia of Amadora manages 2 Day Care Centers, supporting daily 100 seniors; 2 Nursing Homes, supporting daily 140 seniors; Home Support Services, supporting 139 seniors, 7 days a week; and a Long Term Care Facilities Unit supporting daily 140 seniors and vulnerable people; Meal Home Deliver Service providing 30 meals daily to the Community.

Santa Casa da Misericórdia is part of the Amadora pilot in BeyondSilos.

Portugal Telecom is the leading telecommunication and multimedia group in Portugal. The company's activity covers all segments of the telecommunications sector: wireline, mobile, multimedia, data and corporate solutions, strongly focused on the convergence of telecommunications with media and information technology areas. Portugal Telecom’s international footprint spreads to countries like Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Timor, Angola, Kenya, S. Tomé and Príncipe and Namibia. During the last two decades, PT has been an active participant in EU-funded projects and international telecommunications standards bodies (CEPT, ETSI, CCITT, ITU). The commitment to the promotion of co-operation with national and international R&D institutions has enabled PT to play a decisive role as an agent for the technological knowledge transfer between the market and the industry environments.

PT Telecom is part of the Amadora pilot in BeyondSilos.

Gesundes Kinzigtal Integrated Care is coordinated and managed by Gesundes Kinzigtal GmbH (“Healthy Kinzigtal Ltd.”), a regional integrated care management company. The company was founded in September 2005 by two organisations: the local physicians’ network MQNK (“Medizinisches Qualitätsnetz – Ärzteinitiative Kinzigtal e.V.) and OptiMedis AG, a German health care management company with a background in medical sociology and integrated care management. MQNK provides medical expertise and its members, being familiar with the region and its people, are aware of the strengths and shortcomings of the region’s health care system. OptiMedis AG brings into this partnership prevention and health economic as well as management know-how and the ability to provide monetary investment. 66.6% of Gesundes Kinzigtal GmbH’s shares are owned by MQNK members; thus it is ensured that the interests of local physicians remain dominant.

Gesundes Kinzigtal is part of the Baden-Württemberg pilot in BeyondSilos.

empirica has established itself as a leading European institute with a broad understanding of political, business and socio-economic issues surrounding eServices and telematics applications. The company has a permanent staff from a range of disciplines, including medicine / health, social care, IT engineering, (medical) informatics, economics, social, political, management and public administration sciences. This mix of qualifications combined with a well-established network of international partners allows easy formation of interdisciplinary and international teams well-tuned to the demands of newly developing markets or for new strategic and policy directions.

In BeyondSilos, empirica is responsible for requirements analysis and use case development, socio-economic impact assessment and exploitation support, and dissemination and communication.

HIM SA is a joint venture company between HIM Ltd., a UK-based company specialised in ICT strategic consultancy, and Dedalus, the leading ICT supplier to the healthcare sector in Italy. In its 15 years of business in the eHeath and eInclusion markets, the company has built an impressive range of contacts with health organisations in several countries of the European Union, and with providers of medical software, and scientific associations. HIM has specialised in the management of large multi-cultural Consortia to which it offers Offer Management to prepare proposals in response to Calls for Proposals by the European Union, and by national governments; Project Management for large projects, including co-ordination of partners from different countries and cultures, and liaison with the European Commission; Consortia building through an extensive network of connections with business partners from various European Countries with whom HIM has established excellent personal and business relationships. HIM SA has developed excellent business planning and market development skills, which have been capitalised upon through the launch of a Business Development activity.

In BeyondSilos, HIM SA is responsible for daily project management, scientific co-ordination and quality assurance.