Celo’s secure communication and collaboration solution was implemented by Third Age Healthearlier this year, to support their clinical team ahead of the Omicron outbreak. Following a highly successful pilot rollout and implementation, Third Age Health is now expanding the use of Celo to include all their clinicians and aged residential care partners. Implementing Celo widely is expected to drive improvements in clinical efficiency, patient safety and quality of care.

“Our clinicians often work in complex environments with multiple teams in aged care facilities who work shifts and there can be high staff turnover; this can make communication challenging. With Celo, we have found a technology solution that is easy to use and strengthens the bonds in an environment where we need to really focus on increasing collaboration between interdisciplinary teams.” says Tony Wai, Third Age Health CEO.

Third Age Health aims to divert all internal clinical communications through Celo, allowing for more secure and timely communication that will alleviate email fatigue for clinicians. Alongside an internal Celo network for collaboration, Third Age Health will be able to extend Celo licenses across external facilities to improve cross-clinical communication. One of the main outcomes will be to improve continuity of care, when there are multiple clinicians providing care.

Dr Peter Zink, Third Age Health’s Medical Director comments, “Our pilot of Celo has been really successful, with our team all very keen to expand its use. It makes patient handovers easier, enables us to securely share images of things such as wounds, and means we can more easily support each other remotely with clinical case discussion. It helps enormously with not feeling isolated as a clinician, that you have the support of your colleagues if you have a question or need a second opinion.”

Nurse Practitioner Shinu Matthew said that using the Celo app means she does not waste time when on-call. “Prior to using Celo I might receive a voice message from a care home nurse and if they had rung out of the facility on the main switchboard it might take several calls back to find the right person to speak to because residential care facilities are often large with many different wards and care wings. With the messaging function on Celo, I can see exactly who is contacting me, the name of the patient, and the presenting issue so when I contact them back I am prepared having looked up the patient notes. It is far more efficient and means the patient receives more timely care."

Third Age Health works with over 50 Aged Residential Care facilities throughout New Zealand and aims to work collaboratively to implement Celo as soon as resource allows, bearing in mind the pressures the sector is facing.

Tony Wai concludes, “Our long-term vision is to really revolutionise the way we deliver primary healthcare services to our Aged Residential Care clients, so our older patients receive quality, timely medical care to improve their quality of life. We know that the care homes we partner with face workforce pressures and so we are really thrilled to have found a technology solution which we believe will improve efficiency and relieve some pressure for registered nurses and staff in aged care homes.”

Steve Vlok, Celo Founder and CEO comments. “We’re really excited to be working with such an innovative organisation. Third Age Health has proven that technology can play a huge role in making healthcare delivery more efficient, wider-reaching and more equitable. With Celo, the team at TAH were able to roll out the technology very quickly, giving all clinical teams connectivity with the right person at the right time. Together we’re saving time and resources, while making sure the patient receives the optimal care no matter where they are. We’re really looking forward to our continued work with Tony and his team at TAH.”