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 technology company Safe Patient Systems, uses touchscreen mobile phones which have been programmed with personalised care plans.
Each day the phones will prompt patients to answer key questions about their health and will automatically capture their vital physical signs.
Following a commissioning process which began November 2011, some surgeries in the county started using the system in January. NHS Somerset is planning a full roll out after a "communications day" on 28 May to tell patients about the new system.
According to Dr Sarah Pearce, a GP in the town of Chard, telehealth has been used in Somerset for some time, but this is the first time mobile devices have been involved.
Some patients have said they prefer using mobile phones instead of the previous Tunstall system which used a "box" located in the living room, she told Guardian Government Computing. "You have people round and they can see the box, whereas this just looks like a mobile phone and doesn't label them as having an illness."
"Patients can take it away for the weekend, because it is very light, very mobile. If you had a patient who wanted to maintain their independence, they could take it to the shops and it could monitor their condition while they are out shopping."
Trials of the safe mobile care system at South Birmingham primary care trust with 100 COPD and chronic heart disease patients took place over 12 months in 2012-11. In August 2011 NHS Bristol started using the technology to support 3,000 patients over three years.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Gill Hitchcock
Quelle/Source: The Guardian, 03.05.2012
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