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Compared with normal care, telehealth can achieve better and faster health outcomes, better adherence to medication, and increased productivity The debate around remote care frequently stalls on the matter of expensive or complicated equipment, but often people have all the technology they need sitting in their pockets. While some healthcare providers use text alerts to remind patients about appointments or about submitting data, little use is made of responsive telehealth – the sending and receiving of linked information. Developed by the NHS as a simple telehealth application, Florence (or Flo...

Telehealth pilots show promising results but technology will not deliver benefits if care pathways are poorly designed Among the numerous challenges facing the NHS in England, caring for more than 15 million patients with chronic conditions is arguably the biggest and accounts for 70% of its budget. Telehealth can offer better long-term care at lower cost, but despite its attractions and ministerial backing, implementation remains patchy. "I think the problem is that what we have often done is apply technology to poorly thought out care pathways," says Steve Jones, NHS Direct 's director...

Medical staff, patients and parents are using a new system that has saved lives Every year, more than 200 infants are born in Northern Ireland with heart disease. I work at the Royal Belfast hospital for sick children and as specialists in paediatric cardiology, we deal with a majority of these cases. For the past few years we've been supplementing our traditional care with a telemedicine scheme that offers patients, parents and our colleagues a new way to interact. Like thousands of hospital departments across the UK, we deal with resourcing difficulties. Not only do we cope with our current...

The Patient from Hell thinks a co-produced, quickly updated wiki should be used share progress on telehealth Ever since the report on the Whole System Demonstrator on telehealth came out at the end of June I have been wondering whether this kind of peer-reviewed academic report gets one very far. Careful double-blind reports like this evolved very properly for evaluating the safety of drugs, but I can't see them as being fit for purpose to take a measured look at an evolving technology like telehealth. Telehealth is a moving target, and you can only take a snapshot of it at a particular point...

Touchscreen phones with remote monitoring capabilities will be offered to NHS Somerset patients with chronic lung disease, heart disease and diabetes NHS Somerset has begun rolling out telehealth equipment to thousands of its patients as part of a scheme that will allow them to monitor long-term health conditions from home. As part of a three-year, £1.2m contract, 4,000 NHS patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease and diabetes will be able to monitor their health and vital signs remotely. The telehealth scheme, which uses the safe mobile care system from healthcare...

Care services minister Paul Burstow wants the NHS to pay for telehealth and telecare through monthly contracts Paul Burstow, the care services minister, has indicated that he would like to see telehealth and telecare services provided to the NHS without the need for up-front capital payments. Speaking at the King's Fund international congress on telehealth and telecare, Burstow said a community nurse supervisor should be able to pay for a blood pressure monitor through a monthly contract, in a similar way to that in which people pay for iPhones or Blackberrys. Such a strategy is already used...