IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The Government’s flagship telehealth strategy has suffered another blow as the DH-commissioned review revealed the pilot cost £92,000 per quality adjusted life year, almost three times the upper limit for cost effectiveness set by NICE.

The official evaluation of the Department of Health funded Whole Systems Demonstrator pilot showed the approach had just an 11% likelihood of proving cost-effective for the NHS at this threshold, when added to standard care.

Read more: GB: Flagship telehealth scheme 'cost £92,000 per QALY'

A new study by British researchers suggests that the next big thing in healthcare – ‘telehealth’ might not be worth its high expenses. These findings will surely fuel controversy over the economic case of telehealth which many IT companies are getting into. Martin Knapp, professor of social policy at the London School of Economics, one of the leaders of the study, said the disappointing results did not mean telehealth was a waste of time but did suggest it needed to be better targeted. In some cases, technology might help improve the outcome but the services need to be modified to suit the patients. ‘We have got to find ways of better adjusting the equipment to suit the circumstances of the individual patient,’ he said ‘Just at the moment we don’t find the advantage that people had hoped for.’

Read more: GB: Is telehealth cost beneficial?

NHS chiefs in Yorkshire have written off 2,000 hi-tech telehealth devices as worthless only three years after buying them in a controversial £3.2m initiative.

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.

Read more: GB: North Yorkshire: Cash-crisis NHS chiefs write off telehealth devices

Telehealth does not seem to be a cost effective addition to standard support and treatment for patients with long term conditions, finds a study published on bmj.com today.

The findings follow a BMJ study published last month showing that telehealth does not improve quality of life for patients with long term conditions.

Telehealth uses technology to help people with health problems live more independently at home. For example, blood pressure or blood glucose levels can be measured at home and electronically transmitted to a health professional, reducing the need for hospital visits.

Read more: GB: Telehealth unlikely to be cost effective for patients with long term conditions