AU2012201402A1

AU2012201402A1 - A System and Method of Monitoring Care of Patients

Info

Publication number: AU2012201402A1
Application number: AU2012201402A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Matthew Purtell
Original assignee: Carers Phone Pty Ltd
Current assignee: CARER'S PHONE Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2011-03-11
Filing date: 2012-03-08
Publication date: 2012-09-27
Also published as: GB201204115D0; CA2771779A1; GB2488904A

Abstract

Abstract: Embodiments provide systems and methods for care of patients. Location data indicative of a location of an assessment of the patient is received from a communication device disposed at the respective location. Condition data indicative of the condition of the patient is received from the communication device for at least part of the assessment and reporting data is generated based on the condition data and location data. Database i. Location Module 18 Condition Module 20 Communication 4d Device 12 Generation Module 22 Figure 1 Server .3 Database I Telephone . . 34 Location Module 18 Condition '36 Module 2o Telephone 30B Generation Module 22 14 Association Module Output 1 Module 26 Verification Module 29 Figure 2

Description

AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION Standard Patent Applicant(s): The Carer's Phone Pty Ltd Invention Title: A System and Method of Monitoring Care of Patients The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method for performing it known to me/us: - 2 A SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MONITORING CARE OF PATIENTS FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a system and method 5 of monitoring care of patients. The invention is of particular, although not exclusive, application in receiving data from a communication device disposed at a location of a patient to monitor care of the patient. 10 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Existing methods of monitoring care of patients generally involve office based staff manually reviewing assessment reports of condition of patients, filled out by carers, to determine whether adequate care was provided to 15 the patients and whether some of the patients require further care. For example, carers, such as registered nurses, social workers or other allied health professionals, may provide care and perform assessments on patients typically every three to six months depending on 20 the designated care program for each patient. The carers, however, are generally responsible for planning and delivering care to the patients on a needs basis, and are not responsible for selecting, supervising or rostering carers to the patients. Thus, there may be a 25 discontinuity between carers and patients, and observations, such as observations of deterioration of a patient, might go unnoticed. In addition, in the absence of regular and systematic observations of a patient's condition by the same carer, supervisory staff, such as 30 case managers, commonly visit patients regularly, such as every six weeks to three months, to confirm that the provided care plan and services meet the patient's needs. One existing system for monitoring care of patients 35 provides an electronic storage of patient assessments. In this case, office based staff read assessments performed by the carers, collate information with respect to the 3203322n1o(HM.m) P86174.AU. I j03112 - 3 assessments, enter the information into a database, and alert a supervisor to visit a patient if they observe a deterioration of the patient's condition. s Furthermore, there were approximately 878,000 patients receiving home based care in Australia in 2010 and approximately 300,000 of these have complex needs requiring a high level of care. At least some of these patients will require consistent and systematic monitoring 10 of care and with existing systems this is a labour intensive and uneconomical service. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the present invention, is there is provided a system for monitoring care of at least one patient comprising: a location module arranged to receive location data indicative of a location of an assessment of the at least one patient from a communication device disposed at the 20 respective location; a condition module arranged to receive condition data indicative of a condition of the at least one patient from the communication device as at least part of the assessment; and 25 a generation module arranged to generate reporting data based-on the condition data and the location data for output to a user. In an embodiment, the system further comprises a 30 verification module arranged to verify the location data indicative of the location of the assessment of the at least one patient with respect to designated location data indicative of a designated location of the at least one patient. For example, the communication device comprises 35 a telephone and the location data comprises a telephone number for the telephone indicative of the location of the at least one patient. In addition, the designated 3203322 1 (KoHMrm) P86174.AU. I SM/12 -4 location data comprises the telephone number indicative of the location of the at least one patient. That is, a fixed line telephone number associated with an address of the patient is received from the telephone and associated 5 with the condition data to verify that a user, such as a carer, was present at the location of the patient to perform the assessment and care for the patient. In another example, the communication device 10 comprises a mobile phone and the location data comprises location coordinates of the mobile phone indicative of the location of the at least one patient. Thus, for example, the designated location data comprises the location coordinates of the patient and the verification module is compares the location coordinates of the mobile phone indicative of the location of the assessment of the patient with the designated location coordinates of the patient. 20 In one arrangement, the mobile phone comprises a GPS transceiver and the location coordinates comprise GPS coordinates indicating the location of the GPS transceiver of the mobile phone. In another arrangement, the location coordinates comprise an indication of proximity to one or 25 more base stations servicing the mobile phone. It will be appreciated by those persons skilled in the art that, in other arrangements, the location coordinates can be derived other ways, such as triangulation from more than one base station servicing the mobile phone or by 30 detecting the amount of power used by the mobile phone at a servicing base station. In an embodiment, the condition data comprises weighted answers to a series of designated questions 35 indicating the condition of the at least one patient. In the embodiment, the reporting data comprises an alert if a sum of the weighted answers with respect to the at least 3203322 (OHMam ) P86174.AU.I a/03112 -5 one patient is determined to be greater than a threshold value. For example, in use, a carer, such as a registered nurse, performs an assessment of a patient at their home and enters condition data indicative of the condition of 5 the patient into a database using a telephone disposed at the patient's home by answering a series of designated questions indicating the condition of the patient. The series of designated questions can be answered in a yes/no fashion or by providing a score indicating severity. For 10 example, such a question may be: How do you assess the patient's mobility? 1 - very good, 2 - good, 15 3 - not good, or 4 - minimal. With respect to the above example, the threshold value may be designated to be 50% such that if 50% of the 20 answers are averaged over the series of questions to be "not good" than an alert is outputted. It will be appreciated by those persons skilled in the art that the alert may be generated based on other criteria such as if an answer to a particular question is a particular value 25 (e.g. "4 - minimal"). In the embodiment, the alert comprises a communication to a supervisor monitoring care of the at least one patient. In an arrangement, the communication comprises an SMS. In another arrangement, the communication comprises an email, or a combination of 30 both email and SMS. For example, email alerts may be provided for less severe transgressions of the threshold (e.g. between 50% and 75%) and SMS alerts may be provided for more severe transgressions (e.g. greater than 75%). Again, it will be appreciated by those persons skilled in 35 the art that other methods of communication may be employed to alert a supervisor of a deterioration of a condition of a patient, such as a telephone call. 32033221 (GRMtteM) P86174.AU. 1 aM12 -6 In an embodiment, the designated questions are stored in an evaluation module residing in the communication device. In the embodiment, the evaluation module is 5 arranged to communicate the weighted answers and the location data to the database over a network. For example, the communication device is a mobile phone, such as a smart phone, and the evaluation module resides in the memory of the phone and is performed by an application io dedicated to communicate the weighted answers and the location data to the database over the network. In an embodiment, the system comprises a database in data communication with the communication device. In the 15 embodiment, the database comprises the location module, the condition module and the generation module. In addition, the database comprises an association module arranged to associate said location data with said condition data in the database with respect to the at 20 least one patient. Furthermore, the database further comprises an output module arranged to output a report, such as a progression report or an alert, based on the reporting data with respect to the patient. 25 In an embodiment, the database further comprises a care module arranged to receive identification data indicative of a carer of the at least one patient from the communication device. In the embodiment, the identification data comprises a designated PIN stored in 30 the database so that, in use, a carer enters a PIN identifying the carer using the communication device which can then be verified at the database. Once the PIN is verified, the carer can then enter condition data for association with the location data into the database. 35 In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of monitoring care of at least one patient, the 32033221 O IaiMme) P86174.AU. I aani1 -7 method comprising: electronically receiving location data indicative of a location of an assessment of the at least one patient from a communication device disposed at the respective 5 location; electronically receiving condition data indicative of a condition of the at least one patient from the communication device as at least part of the assessment; and 10 electronically generating reporting data based on the condition data and the location data for output to a user. In another aspect of the invention, there is provided code usable to configure a server to implement a method of is monitoring care of at least one patient, the server being configured to: receive location data indicative of a location of an assessment of the at least one patient from a communication device disposed at the respective location 20 over a network; receive condition data indicative of a condition of the at least one patient from the communication device over the network as at least part of the assessment; and generate reporting data based on the condition data 25 and the location data for output to a user. In another aspect of the invention, there is provided computer program code which when executed implements the above method. 30 In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer readable medium comprising the above program code. 35 In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a data file comprising the above program code. 3203322_1 (OHM.,-) P861 74.AU. I 8o3 -8 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order that the invention be more clearly ascertained, embodiments will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in 5 which: Figure 1 is a schematic view of a system for monitoring care of at least one patient according an embodiment of the present invention; 10 Figure 2 is a further schematic view of the system of Figure 1, Figure 3 is another schematic view of the system of is Figure 1; Figure 4 is a flow chart of a method of monitoring care of at least one patient according to an embodiment of the present invention; 20 Figure 5 is a flow chart of a method of monitoring care showing the initial steps of rostering a patient for provision of care and using a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention; 25 Figure 6 is a further flow chart of the method of Figure 5 showing the subsequent steps of capturing and recording observations of condition using the communication device; 30 Figure 7 is a further flow chart of the method of Figure 5 showing the subsequent steps of generating alerts based on the condition data; and 35 Figure 8 is a further flow chart of the method of Figure 5 showing the final steps of reviewing the alerts and determining an appropriate response. 320332 1 (GHMamm) P86174.AU. I omjV12 -9 DETAILED DESCRIPTION According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a system 10 for monitoring care of 5 patients. The system 10 comprises a number of modules arranged to receive data from a communication device 12, associate the data in a database 16 and generate reporting data for output to a user according to this data. That is, the system 10 comprises a location module 18 arranged io to receive location data indicative of a location of an assessment of a patient from the communication device 12 disposed at the location of the patient, a condition module 20 arranged to receive condition data indicative of a condition of the patient from the communication device 15 12 as at least part of the assessment, and a generation module 22 arranged to generate reporting data based on the condition data and the location data for output to a user. In use, a user, such as a carer (e.g. a registered 20 nurse), observes a patient and uses the communication device 12 to answer questions, forming condition data, indicative of the observed condition of the patient. The communication device 12 then transmits the condition data along with the location data indicative of the location 25 over the network 14 to the database 16. It will be appreciated by those persons skilled in the art that the network may comprise a dedicated network, such as a LAN, or may use existing infrastructure such as the Internet or a fixed line telephone network. The generation module 22 30 then generates reporting data, based on the condition data and the location data for output to a user, indicating, for example, progress or regression of the condition of the patient or an alert based on the condition data. 35 As shown in Figure 2, the database 16 also comprises a verification module 29 arranged to verify the location data indicative of the location of the assessment of the 32o322I(OHAmMI) P86174.AU.1 103/12 - 10 patient with respect to designated location data indicative of a designated location of the patient such as the patient's house address. Also, the database 16 comprises an association module 24 arranged to associate 5 the received location data with the condition data in the database 16 with respect to the patient. As described, the carer may also be required to enter a PIN to further verify that they performed the assessment and, in this case, the database 16 comprises a carer module (not shown) 10 arranged to receive the PIN and compare it against a stored designated PIN to verify the carer. For example, a carer provides care to a patient at one location (e.g. the patient's house) and performs an 15 assessment of a condition of the patient using a communication device 12 in a form of a telephone 30A, as shown with respect to a system 28 for monitoring care of patients in Figure 2. With reference to this example, a carer performs an assessment of a patient in one location 20 and enters condition data indicative of a condition of the patient using the patient's telephone 30A, via, for example, a keypad of the telephone 30A. Another carer, or the same carer at a later time, also performs an assessment of another patient and enters condition data 25 indicative of a condition of the patient using this patient's telephone 30B. In this example, the network 14 is a telephone network and the telephones 30A 30B, disposed at respective locations of the patients, have telephone numbers associated therewith indicative of their 30 respective house addresses. Thus, received telephone numbers are used by the verification module 29 for comparison with designated patient telephone numbers to verify location of the assessment. 35 As described, the condition data is derived from the carers' assessment of patients by providing weighted answers to a series of designated assessment questions. 3203322 1 (FMnt) P861 74.AU. 1 8o10V1 - 11 The answers, such as selecting multiple choice answers having different weightings, thus indicate the condition of the patient and can be entered using the key pad of the telephones 30A 30B. For example, key "1" indicates "Yes" 5 and key "2" indicates "No" to a question. In this way, a numerical sum value of the answers can be obtained and used for comparison against threshold values to determine whether to generate a report, or an alert, or both. For example, a regression report is outputted when a threshold 10 value of 30% is reached, a first alert when a threshold value of 50% is reached and a second alert when a threshold value of 75% is reached. In addition, it is envisaged that the system 10 can make a comparison of condition data recorded over time for a patient and a 15 progress or regress report of the condition of patient is also outputted based on the condition data. Figure 2 and Figure 3 also show the database 16 being implemented in a memory 34 of a server 32. That is, the 20 server 32 is accessible by the telephones 30A 30B, mobile phones 40A 40B, or a computer 44, over the network 14, and comprises a memory 34 implementing the database 16 and a processor 36 implementing the location module 18, condition module 20, association module 24, generation 25 module 22, and an output module 26 arranged to output a report based on the reporting data. It will be appreciated by those persons skilled in the art that the database 32 may implemented in some other way, such as in a distributed form across a number of servers. 30 As shown in Figure 3, the communication device 12 comprises a mobile phone, or a computer, which carers are equipped with, or otherwise use, when assessing the patient. The carers use the mobile phones 40A 40B and/or 35 the computer 44 to communicate location and condition data to the database 16. In an example, the network 16 comprises a network connected to the Internet, such as Wi 3203322 (Cmaa tmm P86174.AU. I M3/12 - 12 Fi, 3G, ADSL, etc., and the location data comprises location coordinates of the mobile phones 40A 40B at the patients' respective location, or an IP address of the computer 44 (or some other computer identification 5 coordinates). As described, the mobile phones 40A 40B comprise GPS transceivers and the location coordinates comprise GPS coordinates indicating the location of the GPS transceivers. In this way, carers using the mobile phones 40A 40B to communicate condition data in the form 10 of weighted answers also communicate GPS coordinates for verification of the location of the assessment by the verification module 29 at the server 32. Thus, for example, the database 16 contains designated addresses for patient in the form of GPS coordinates so that the 15 verification module 29 can compare the received GPS coordinates with the stored GPS coordinates. The mobile phones 40A 40B and computer 44 also comprise a processor and a memory to implement modules 20 residing thereon. In this case, the mobile phones 40A 40B and the computer 44 comprise an evaluation module 42A 42B 46, residing thereon, to forward the location data and the condition data to the server 32. In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, carers using the telephones 30A 30B either 25 take with them a copy of the questions for assessing a patient or are prompted by voice commands. Alternatively, the carers are provided the questions by the respective evaluation modules of the mobile phones 40A 40B and computer 44. In any case, the database 16 comprises the 30 questions so that the condition data an be used for reporting. These designated questions are answered by providing weighted answers, such as selecting multiple choices of 35 answers having different weightings, indicating the condition of the patient. An example of a series of designated questions is given below: 32033221 mm P861 74.AU. I $M3/12 - 13 1. How well do you know this client? 1. Very well 2. Quite well 5 3. Not well 4. Not at all 2.Is there evidence today the client is eating regular meals? 10 Yes/No 3. Is the client walking/moving about today (as per their usual mobility skills)? Yes/No 15 4.Do you have concerns today about the client's continence? Yes/No 20 5.Do you have concerns today about the client's personal hygiene? Yes/No 6.Does the client seem to be happy/willing to receive 25 your services today? Yes/No 7.Is the client able to understand and/or talk with you today as they usually do? 30 Yes/No 8.Is there evidence that the client has taken their medication today as per their service instructions? Yes/No 35 9. Is the client their usual self today in terms of their mood and behaviour? 32033221 (GWA.n) P86174.AU. I m/12 - 14 Yes/No 10. Looking at the big picture of the client's overall needs, do you have any major concerns? 5 Yes/No If yes, what are your major concerns? (You may select as many as you believe to be applicable.) 1. Nutrition/hydration (includes diet) 2. Mobility/falls 10 3. Continence/hygiene 4. Medication 5.Mental status/behaviour 6. Social/financial situation 7. Carer's health or carer's stress 15 8. Continue to next question 11. Based on your observations today, do you believe the client may possibly benefit from a reassessment or review? 20 Yes/No Thus, in use, a carer using mobile phone 40A inputs answers to these questions using the keypad (or, in some cases, touch pad) of the phone. For example, when 25 answering the designated questions, pressing 1 on the keypad indicates "Yes", pressing 2 indicates "No", pressing 9 indicates "unknown/unsure/not applicable", and 0 allows the carer to hear the question again. Furthermore, the * key is used to navigate through the 30 series of questions, e.g. to move back a question, and the # key provides help. The designated questions also comprise a final question confirming whether the assessment is complete. 35 For example, this final question is as follows: a.Feel unsure about the client's needs and safety or 3203322_I (GMalters) P86174.AU. 1 o1 - 15 b.Believe the client's condition or situation is unusual or c. Have OH&S concerns or d.Have concerns regarding possible abuse or neglect of 5 the client? When answering this question, the carer has the option to press 1 on the keypad to discuss these concerns directly with the supervisor. 10 The generated reports comprise condition reports for the patients. These reports show progress or regress of condition and can be used for auditing purposes to demonstrate an assessment of a patient was performed and 15 care provided. In addition, the report comprises an alert in designated situations. In particular, an alert is generated when a sum of the weighted answers with respect to a patient is determined to be greater than a threshold value. With reference to the above questions, if, for 20 example, the patient scores six "No's" out of the 11 questions, the sum of weighted answers is six and greater than a first report threshold of 50%. An alert is then generated and outputted in a form of an SMS to a carer to administer care to the patient and/or to a supervisor to 25 take further action, such as increasing the frequency of assessments by carers. Figures 5 to 8 show an example of the system 10 for monitoring care of patients, shown as clients, in use. 30 The flow chart 100 shows the example from the perspectives of carers 106, a supervisor of the carers, shown as a case manager 102, and the communication device 12, shown as the carer's phone 104. 35 The flow chart 100 begins with a client (e.g. a patient) being rostered 104 for provision of care by the case manager 102 to a carer 106. The carer 106 then 32033221 (GHMaIlm) P861 74.AU.1 e3n2 - 16 delivers 110 service to the client in their home and uses the carer's telephone 104 to input condition data by first dialling 112 a telephone number to access the database and then verifying 114 the location of the carer based on the 5 client's telephone number. The database then identifies the client using the telephone number, as shown in Figure 6, and determines whether the client is enrolled in the care program at step 10 116. If the client is not enrolled, the carer is informed by the database, via the phone, at step 118 and the service is cancelled at step 136. If the client is enrolled, the carer is requested 120 to enter an ID and this is entered 122 by the carer using the telephone. The 15 database subsequently identifies 124 the carer based on this ID, such as a stored PIN, and the carer is then presented with an option 126 of a preferred language. The carer is then prompted 128 with a series of designated questions to asses the client's condition. These are 20 entered 130 using the keypad of the carer's phone and if the carer has concerns with the client the carer can transfer 132 the call to a supervisor or case manager for discussion 134. The assessment is then completed and the call ended 136 by the carer so that the condition data is 25 communicated 138 to the database for association with the location data. As shown in Figure 7, the answers are weighted so that a trigger score can be calculated 140 therefrom to 30 determine 142 whether a threshold value has been reached. In the example shown in the figure, two thresholds are utilised; a first, email alert, threshold representing a minor concern with the client's condition, and a second, SMS alert, threshold representing a major concern with the 35 client's condition. The database determines whether an email alert threshold 142 has been reached and if so forwards 144 an alert by email to the supervisor. 32o332_ G P86174.AU. I 0 - 17 Alternatively, or additionally, the database determines 146 that an SMS threshold has been reached and if so sends an SMS to the supervisor. The carer is also given feedback at step 150 that the answers have been entered 5 correctly and whether an alert has been sent. If the supervisor has been alerted, either via SMS or email, that there is a problem with the condition of the client, the supervisor can access 152 the database using a 10 web interface to view reports on the condition of the client, as shown in Figure 8. The supervisor then verifies 154 his/her details for access to the database and reviews 156 the case history to determine whether the observations made by the carer of condition were accurate. 15 Again, feedback of the supervisor's review is sent 160 to the carer. The supervisor can determine 162 an appropriate care response, such as more frequent care of the client, and this is recorded 164 in the database for future action. 20 Referring back to Figure 4, a method of monitoring care of a patient is summarised. The method 48 comprises electronically receiving 50 receiving location data indicative of a location of an assessment of the at least 25 one patient from a communication device disposed at the respective location, electronically receiving 52 condition data indicative of a condition of the at least one patient from the communication device as at least part of the assessment, and electronically generating 54 reporting 30 data based on the condition data and the location data for output to a user. Further aspects of the method will be apparent from the above description of the system. Persons skilled in 35 the art also appreciate the method could be embodied in a program code. The program code could be supplied in a number of ways, for example, on a computer readable 323m2Z1 (GHNUcII) P861 74.AU. 1 =3412 - 18 medium, such as a disk or a memory or as a data signal or data file (for example, by transmitting it from a server). It will be understood to persons skilled in the art 5 of the invention that many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is to be understood that, if any prior art 10 publication is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country. is In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising" is used in an inclusive sense, 20 i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention. 32033221 (GHMatters) P86174.AU. I SoM3it

Claims

1. A system for monitoring care of at least one patient comprising: 5 a location module arranged to receive location data indicative of a location of an assessment of the at least one patient from a communication device disposed at the respective location; a condition module arranged to receive condition data 10 indicative of a condition of the at least one patient from the communication device as at least part of the assessment; and a generation module arranged to generate reporting data based on the condition data and the location data for 15 output to a user.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a verification module arranged to verify the location data indicative of the location of the assessment of the at 20 least one patient with respect to designated location data indicative of a designated location of the at least one patient.

3. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the 25 communication device comprises a telephone and the location data comprises a telephone number for the telephone indicative of the location of the at least one patient. 30

4. A system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the designated location data comprises the telephone number indicative of the location of the at least one patient.

5. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the 35 communication device comprises a mobile phone and the location data comprises location coordinates of the mobile phone indicative of the location of the at least one 32033221 (GHa4ttm) P86174.AU. 1 W/12 - 20 patient.

6. A system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the designated location data comprises the location 5 coordinates indicative of the location of the at least one patient.

7. A system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the mobile phone comprises a GPS transceiver and the location 10 coordinates comprise GPS coordinates indicating the location of the GPS transceiver of the mobile phone.

8. A system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the location coordinates comprise an indication of proximity to one or 15 more base stations servicing the mobile phone.

9. A system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the condition data comprises weighted answers to a series of designated questions indicating the condition of 20 the at least one patient.

10. A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the reporting data comprises an alert if a sum of the weighted answers with respect to the at least one patient is determined to 25 be greater than a threshold value.

11. A system as claimed in any one of claim 10, wherein the alert comprises a communication to a supervisor monitoring care of the at least one patient. 30

12. A system as claimed in any one of claim 11, wherein the communication comprises an SMS.

13. A system as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 12, 35 wherein the designated questions are stored in an evaluation module residing in the communication device. 32033221 (GHMaeM) P86174.AU. 1 =3112 - 21

14. A system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the evaluation module is arranged to communicate said weighted answers to the condition module and said location data to the location module over a network. 5

15. A system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 14, further comprising a database in data communication with the communication device, the database comprising the location module, the condition module and the generation 10 module.

16. A system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the database further comprises an association module arranged to associate said location data with said condition data in 15 the database with respect to the at least one patient.

17. A system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the database further comprises a carer module arranged to receive identification data indicative of a user performing the 20 assessment of the at least one patient from the communication device.

18. A system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the identification data comprises a designated PIN stored in 25 the database.

19. A system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the database further comprises an output module arranged to output a report based on the reporting data with respect to the 30 patient.

20. A method of monitoring care of at least one patient, the method comprising: electronically receiving location data indicative of 35 a location of an assessment of the at least one patient from a communication device disposed at the respective location; 32033221 (GHMattem P86174.AU. IM - 22 electronically receiving condition data indicative of a condition of the at least one patient from the communication device as at least part of the assessment; and 5 electronically generating reporting data based on the condition data and the location data for output to a user.

21. Computer program code usable to configure a server to implement a method of monitoring care of at least one 10 patient, the server being configured to: receive location data indicative of a location of an assessment of the at least one patient from a communication device disposed at the respective location over a network; 15 receive condition data indicative of a condition of the at least one patient from the communication device over the network as at least part of the assessment; and generate reporting data based on the condition data and the location data for output to a user. 20

22. Computer program code which when executed implements the method of claim 20.

23. A computer readable medium comprising the program 25 code of claim 22.

24. A data file comprising the program code of claim 22. 32033221 (GHMaIIM) P86174.AU. 1W03112