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.
It was trialled in North Yorkshire last year and is now the largest-scale programme running in the UK. More than 400 people have been referred onto the scheme.
NHS North Yorkshire and York said they have had a huge amount of positive feedback from patients with 96 per cent of patients saying they would recommend it to others and 98 per cent being ‘satisfied’ or ‘highly satisfied’.
One such patient is Harold Watson, from Dalton near Thirsk, who suffers chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes. After five hospital visits over Christmas 2009, it was suggested he use Telehealth.
His wife, Margaret Watson, said as her husband’s carer she was previously too anxious about his health to leave the home.
“If I wanted to go out for the day, I didn’t dare,” she said.
“Harold can’t hear the telephone and I’d have to arrange a time for me to call him just to make sure he’d answer.
"I don’t have to do that now. We take his readings in the morning and if they are low I won’t go out. If everything’s ok I feel reassured to go out without constantly worrying about him.”
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Quelle/Source: The Northern Echo, 07.08.2011
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