VALENCIA PILOT: 2021 – A year in Review
This year, 2o21, the Valencia pilot has completed the preparatory phase of the ValueCare project and has now, in December, included the first recruited participants to the project!
At the beginning of the year, the pilot partners continued with the first round of codesign activities, which continued up to February 2021. Through these activities, the Valencia partners were able to develop and detail all the phases and steps in the intervention care plan. A clear care pathway was developed, and along with the mock-ups of the technological solution, was presented to the participants of the second round of codesign. These activities, which were performed between March and July of 2021, included webinars, focus groups, world cafés, and one-on-one interviews, and were happily carried out face-to-face due to the improved pandemic conditions. Thanks to the second round of codesign, the feedback was translated to the technological partners for the final refinement of the digital solution, and the intervention care plan was modified in order to adjust to the findings of the codesign events.
In July of 2021, the Valencia partners enjoyed a visit from their colleagues from Fundazione Bruno Kessler in order to develop the virtual coach for the Valencia pilot. This meeting, that took place over 2 and a half days, was essential for defining the goals and care pathway for the participants in the intervention group.
Over the year 2021, the Valencia pilot has been very active in their communications activities. Two webinars were organized. In March, an international webinar on Integrated Care was held by the partners in order to raise awareness in this key concept of the ValueCare project. One hundred and thirty-four people watched live online, and the event has since enjoyed more than 300 viewings on the Las Naves YouTube channel. The webinar celebrated in May was a national Spanish event focused on Frailty, the condition specific to the Valencia pilot. One hundred and three people were connected live to the event and more than 360 people have watched the webinar on the Las Naves YouTube channel. In coherence with the webinar on Frailty, the Valencia pilot also offered short 90 second clips of interviews with the speakers of the event that highlighted the main topics that were discussed. These clips were disseminated on social media and have received a great response due to their easy-to-digest appeal.
The webinars were a great way to access the scientific and academic community, but the Valencia pilot is also aware that it is necessary to adapt to all audiences. With that in mind, the ValueCare leaflet was adapted to “easy-reading” format in order to reach the general public audience, specifically that of the over 65’s. This strategy received great due to a press release that highlighted the novelty of such an approach. In addition to this, Las Naves celebrated the International Day for Older Persons, inviting older people from the Valencia City to come and enjoy a day of events focused on active and healthy ageing and promoting the ValueCare project. Eight-eight older people attended the event and participated in demos on physical activities such as tai chi and Nordic walking, and learned about healthy eating through a talk on the “Harvard Plate” by a local expert in the field.
In preparation for the pilot, 50 professionals from the primary care centres participating in the project completed a 3-day course on Value-based care. The program of the course was developed by the Valencia pilot and offered by the INCLIVA Foundation of the Hospital Clínico, who are supporting partners in the project. The content of the course covered all the fundamental aspects of Value-Based Care, and the classes were delivered by scientific experts in the field.
Regarding the dissemination activities, the Valencia ValueCare pilot has participated in a number of events. In October, the partners presented an abstract related to the codesign activities at the NACIC2021 – 1st North American Conference on Integrated Care, Toronto, Canada. In October, the pilot was presented as an example of social innovation to the Master’s Degree class in Biomechanics of the Polytechnical University of Valencia. Similarly, the codesign activities of the ValueCare Valencia pilot was presented to the Valencia Association of Design “Course in Codesign in Health” in November. In December, the ValueCare project was presented to the ISPIM Congress that was held in Las Naves in Valencia.
Coinciding with all the activities of the Valencia pilot, Las Naves has simultaneously publicized the events through both press releases and social media, with continuous posts on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.