New Archive 2020
Happy 18th Birthday!
Cascade3d celebrates in style
Gerry Hodgson, December 2020
Well not quite at The Ritz but we could all dress up and meet on MS Teams for a socially distanced call!
I've thoroughly enjoyed looking back at the old photos and reminiscing about working with so many talented people and diverse organisations since we started Cascade in 2002. The adventure has taken us all over the UK, Europe, US, India and Australia with a common thread of bringing data to life, creating a different perspective and transforming people’s lives through sport, fitness, leisure, culture and healthcare.
Thank you to our amazing staff, customers and partners.
Congratulations Cascade3d on your 18th Birthday!
You can follow our next adventures with us on Twitter.
Partial lockdown - balancing physical and mental health
As partial lockdown hits some parts of the UK, what are the facts about exercising in gyms
Will Jones, October 2020
In the last few weeks, UK gyms and leisure centres have hit the headlines again, with some being asked to close for a second time due to increasing local cases of COVID-19.
But it’s been great to see the fitness industry fighting back by making the case for the many benefits of exercise on people’s physical and especially mental wellbeing during the pandemic.
There is quite a bit of debate on this subject all focussed on establishing how safe is it to use a gym during coronavirus. There is a great article by Christian Hewgill looking at the two sides of the argument along with the BBC Reality Check analysis here at BBC Newsbeat.
For customers who are still open in low transmission locations, we have continued to help analyse participation rates in their busy their gyms, pools and group exercise sessions. The high number of bookings show exercise is still firmly on many people’s minds despite the risks from COVID.
At Cascade3d, we strongly believe in the many benefits of exercise and can’t wait to see all our customers leisure centres fully open again soon.
Quality seal of approval
Cascade3d passes the TSA QSF annual audit with flying colours
Gerry Hodgson, October 2020
I am delighted to post, that following another rigorous annual assessment by the TSA Quality Standards Framework Auditor, Cascade3d has passed all elements again this year.
“This is a great achievement and a reflection of the great work that you and your team are doing, to deliver a high quality service. Congratulations and well done!”
The QSF accreditation process is itself overseen by UKAS, the UK’s National Accreditation Body, responsible for determining, in the public interest, the technical competence and integrity of organisations. Read more…
I would just like to say a huge thank you to everyone at Cascade3d for their relentless work driving the quality of everything we do.
Leisure centres, gyms and pools reopen safely
It’s great to see many of our leisure customers reopen open their doors and welcome back exercise hungry members!
Will Jones, July 2020
With the new social distancing and cleanliness requirements for sport and leisure venues in place, the workout experience is now very different from before.
While fitness members are digging out swim goggles, trainers and sweat bands, we are helping facility managers send text messages to their members pre-visit, confirming visit times to assist with social distancing and give COVID-19 specific safety advice before arrival. It is delightful to see kids back in our leisure centres enjoying themselves.
Many of our customer are using Cascade3d analytics to monitor the number of bookings that have taken place and the trend in bookings for the coming days. Fully automated reports are delivered to the entire management team so they can see the numbers of visitors and plan for expansion in the range of activities.
We are also sending post-visits surveys to members to check their satisfaction levels and gather opinions to make further improvements, ensuring everyone feels as safe and protected as possible.
Please contact-us if you would like to learn more.
TSA release the Sector Insight Report July 2020
Rosamond Roughton, Director-General, Adult Social Care, Department Of Health & Social Care describes how the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the role that digital solutions can play in protecting and connecting people and communities.
Gerry Hodgson, July 2020
The key outcomes from Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and NRS Healthcare project utilising our Cascade3d Connected Care platform are included in the report along with many other impressive innovations changing the way we provide health and care services.
Click this link to register and download a copy of the TSA Sector Insight Report and see the impact digital innovation is having on the sector.
NRS Healthcare have published their latest TEC case study examining how video calls and the Cascade3d Connected Care dashboards have helped significantly reduce hospital admissions in high risk patients. For more, read the NRS Healthcare case study.
TSA Strategic Series Webinar
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and NRS Healthcare discuss digital health monitoring and triage
Gerry Hodgson, June 2020
Sarah Jones is the lead for TECS strategy and development for Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and with colleague Sarah Bradley, Community Service Manager and Jayne Youdan, Service & Transformation Manager for NRS Healthcare, they discuss their digital transformation journey in this week’s TSA strategic webinar.
You can watch the TSA webinar and hear how Cascade3d Connected Care is playing a key part in supporting service transformation for TSDFT ever since the start of the COVID crisis. To access all the TSA webinars and the full list of speakers, please click here.
Here is the link to access Sarah's TSA webinar presentation slides.
COVID-19 safety advice campaigns for golf bookings
Will Jones, May 2020
In mid-March the government announced that some outdoor sports facilities were allowed to re-open after the peak of the UK COVID-19 transmissions had passed. Telford and Wrekin Council contacted us to see if we could deliver intelligent messaging to their golf customers to help them manage the re-opening of their course at Horsehay Village Golf Centre.
We were asked to make sure each customer who booked a golf session, was sent the latest safety information prior to their game.
We decided the most effective approach would be to set up an automatic booking confirmation campaign to merge the tee-off time and include a link to the safety information on the Telford and Wrekin leisure website. This page is updated whenever the safety advice changes so the latest information is always available for golfers. The personalised message has helped ensure customers visit at the right time and comply with social distancing requirements.
Following the success of the golf campaign, it has been extended to include bookings for the outdoor athletics track now that the venue has also been given the green light to re-open.
As more and more leisure venues are allowed to welcome customers back, this is a great solution for all bookable activities, ensuring customers feel confident that their visit will be a safe experience.
If you would like to hear more about our digital communication and booking management capabilities, please contact-us.
Amazon Echo Show videocalls help shield patients
Gerry Hodgson, April 2020
We are absolutely delighted to be supporting the NHS and Adult Social Care teams in this upside-down world as we try to shield vulnerable patients and staff from the invisible threat borne by COVID-19. We think of the NHS staff as superheroes and I really hadn’t appreciated that some community matrons, nurses and carers are also having to self-isolate if they are vulnerable themselves.
Our Cascade3d Connected Care platform has really highlighted how the insights from sensors and medical devices on the dashboard has helped both staff and patients protect each other via the use of video calling. Patient's readings are automatically uploaded to the Cascade3d dashboard and allows staff to remotely triage patients, enabling them to continue to work from home and support their colleagues.
Loved ones can’t travel and some are living on other continents, so it is wonderful to see the joy and relief video calling and digital sensor technology is brining to patients, family, carers and nursing staff.
My DIY job to repair the kitchen door has literally been shelved with the door being repurposed as at workbench in the living room as we prepare Echo Shows and medical devices destined to support elderly and vulnerable people shielding in their own homes.
Ollie and Gerry preparing medical devices and Amazon Alexa Echo Show to support remote patient triage
Naidex cancelled
Gerry Hodgson, March 2020
We were relieved to learn of the postponement of Naidex due to the risks of spreading coronavirus to the thousands of elderly and disabled people and their carers due to visit the NEC show on 17-18th March.
An official statement from Naidex organiser Roar techmedia said:
“Like many large event organisers, the health and safety of our visitors, exhibitors and staff is always our number one priority. This is particularly pertinent in the care and health sector communities that Naidex brings together. Many of our visitors are, or are on the frontline of supporting, the most vulnerable in society. This combined with the fact that health and social care workers will be critical to ongoing containment and management strategies, means that we have taken the decision to reschedule Naidex to later in the year and will confirm this date by Monday 16th March 2020."
I hope it won't be too long before the crisis is resolved and we are able to come together with other suppliers, healthcare professionals and clients to discuss healthtech in a safe and supportive environment. You can find out the latest news from AT Today in the meantime here.
Cyber Security
Gerry Hodgson, February 2020
I'm pleased to announce that we are now fully certified under the National Cyber Security Centre's Cyber Essentials Scheme.
The scheme is world renowned for its rigorous accreditation standards so you can be confident that our systems are fully compliant with essential cyber security measures and protected against the most common attacks.
You can find out more here.
Use of assistive tech - still plenty of room for improvement
Clare Flanagan, February 2020
A new survey from Hft and Cebr has shown that 81% of social care providers believe that they are not using assistive technology to its full potential despite understanding the benefits.
76% of respondents said that assistive tech could improve outcomes, 68% said that it enabled users to be more independent and two thirds said that staff could offer much more meaningful support when they were backed up by technology.
Aside from funding issues, one of the main barriers is a lack of confidence in introducing and working with the new devices. Having collaborated with a number of local authorities to set up and implement assistive technology projects, we are able to guide our clients every step of the way. To find out more, please get in touch.
Good news for the new year
Gerry Hodgson, January 2020
I'm really pleased that people with disabilities and long term health conditions will no longer have to pay for parking at NHS hospitals from April 2020. This might seem a small change but it will really help those who need frequent outpatient appointments including many of the clients we support.
The new Government has also committed to creating a National Strategy for Disabled People before the end of 2020, with the aim of improving access to housing, education, transport and jobs. An article in a recent AT Today says this "could mean additional tendering for assistive technology to help reduce the disability gap", which is great news for us and the organisations we work with.
Other pre-election pledges include:
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A doubling of funding for dementia research
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£74 million for new supported housing for people with learning difficulties and autism
The leisure industry has also seized the opportunity to make physical activity a priority in 2020. Huw Edwards, CEO of ukactive has said: "The new government must put physical activity at heart of the prevention agenda for our health service, recognising the full potential of the physical activity sector to deliver against this and other urgent societal challenges." ukactive has a list of policies it would like to see implemented; you can find out more here.