ITHACA. Telematics for integrated client centred care

ITHACA is a project supported by the healthcare telematics programme of the European commission's Fourth Framework Programme. The user organisations involved in ITHACA shared a philosophy of community based care that focuses on the client and development of the multi-disciplinary care team, involving a range of professionals delivering care to clients in their own homes or community facilities. The focus of ITHACA system is to support client case management which includes client assessment, care planning, delivery and evaluation of care outcomes. System analysis and design process identified that practices and procedures in health and social care are very similar throughout the diverse sites represented in ITHACA and they are represented in a generic model that describes the great majority of local health and social care requirements. The ITHACA demonstrator will consist of a client/patient centred community care information system, which is distributed across a number of community care centres within a given region and covers the homes of selected clients.