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Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski asked the government what steps were being taken to encourage consultations with doctors through the online telephony application Skype, which he said could help patients avoid waiting to see their doctor.

In response, health minister Simon Burns said improving care through digital technologies had been highlighted in the government's NHS "information revolution" consultation.

NHS Scotland has begun the implementation of a single sign-on and password re-set system for access to patient systems used in NHS facilities across Scotland.

It has been supplied by management services company Imprivata and is being implemented through a partnership with Northgate Managed Services. Imprivita said it will enhance data security for health workers.

The government has promised that three million people will benefit from telehealth systems. Telehealth and telecare services rely on devices which allow doctors to monitor patients from their homes.

Questioned on potential savings that could be made by using telemedicine technologies in prisons, care services minister Paul Burstow said the government had made no assessment of how much they could save.

Airedale Hospital, near Skipton, which sees 10 per cent of admissions coming from the Pendle and Burnley areas, has installed a telehealth system at a nursing home, two GP surgeries with four more planned, and in a patient’s own home.

The video conferencing system allows patients with chronic conditions to see and speak directly to a medic via a TV set, who can advise and assess whether a hospital admission is necessary.

The technology is to be rolled out as part of a partnership between NHS Oldham and Oldham Council through which up to 150 patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) will receive support at home. Using mymedic Clinicians will be able to remotely monitor vital signs including blood pressure, pulse rate, and blood oxygen levels on a daily basis. And COPD patients, the initial focus of the partnership, will receive a personalized monitoring plan from clinicians.

GPs in North Yorkshire have been reluctant to take up the state-of-the-art technology which monitors patients’ vital signs at home, with latest figures showing fewer than 650 devices are being used out of 2,000 purchased by NHS chiefs in 2010.

The move by managers in North Yorkshire comes after the bulk of family doctors in the county showed little interest in a programme hailed as a trailblazer for the NHS to monitor patients’ vital signs from home.

Less than a third of the 2,000 Telehealth machines on offer in the County are being used, the contract is due to end on April 1.

NHS York and North Yorkshire is negotiating with the five new GP clinical commissioning groups, CCG’s, over the renewal of contracts but many family doctors are not convinced.

The Telehealth system allows people with long-term conditions such as diabetes or heart failure to take their own readings as often as they need, meaning they can head off problems before they become serious enough to warrant a hospital visit.

Those on the Telehealth system are provided with machines that enable them to monitor vital signs such as temperature, blood sugar levels, blood pressure and oxygen levels.

The website, which features videos of local patients and clinicians speaking about their experiences of Telehealth, aims to help others learn about the new technology and how they could benefit from using it.

Telehealth involves a small, portable electronic unit, roughly the size of a telephone, being installed in a patient’s home and connected to the phone line.

An internal audit report by the North Yorkshire and York PCT, seen by MiP, reveals just 350 of the 2,000 telehealth units are in use by patients with long-term conditions to monitor vital signs at home.

This figure is a long way off manufacturer Tunstall's estimate of 1,500 devices being in use by the end of 2010/11.

The £18m service will be rolled out to 3,500 patients each year for six years across Northern Ireland.

Three-quarters of people over 75 suffer with chronic diseases in Northern Ireland, accounting for 69% of the total health and social care spend in the country.

The contract has been led by the European Centre for Connected Health (part of Northern Ireland's Public Health Agency) who worked in partnership with, and on behalf of, the five Health and Social Care Trusts.

Health Minister Edwin Poots said: "Telemonitoring NI continues to grow and expand. To date the service has benefited around 1 500 patients in Northern Ireland, with long-term conditions helping them to better manage their health.

Nottinghamshire county council is to roll out telecare technology to provide support for older and disabled people in a deal arranged within a Buying Solutions framework.

The technology will link a range of sensors in a person's home to a 24 hour monitoring centre.

Telehealth systems enable people with long term health conditions, like heart disease and diabetes, to manage their health from home.

They can input details of blood pressure and glucose levels, which doctors can review online, reducing the need for frequent hospital appointments.

David Cameron will announce proposals at the Tory conference tomorrow aimed at addressing complaints that limited GP opening hours make it hard for working people to get an appointment.

“Millions of people find it hard to get an appointment to see their GP at a time that fits in with their work and family life,” he said.

“It provides an opportunity to treat patients in new ways, and to help manage rising costs and demand,” the Edinburgh-based agency stated.

The report, “A review of telehealth in Scotland,” looks at how the health service is providing care to patients at a distance, using a range of technologies such as mobile phones, the internet, digital television, video-conferencing and self-monitoring equipment.