100,000 people to benefit from telehealth to help them live independently at home

New health technology will be benefit one hundred thousand people across the country, health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced at an Age UK conference.

The health secretary launched the roll out of telehealth as a way of giving people with long-term conditions control over their own care.

Telehealth helps people to manage their health independently and reduces the need to visit the doctor or go to hospital.

Mr Hunt set out his vision for improving the lives of people with long-term conditions. He confirmed that seven ‘pathfinders’ are to agree contracts with industry suppliers.

‘Pathfinders’ are NHS and local authority organisations including clinical commissioning groups.

This means that 100,000 people will be able to benefit from telehealth in the course of next year.

Leading technology companies will supply the NHS with the technologies and services at no upfront cost.

Jeremy Hunt, health secretary said: “People with long-term conditions see doctors and nurses more than most of us – seven out of every ten pounds spent on the health budget go towards supporting them. I want to free people with long-term conditions from the constant merry-go-round of doctors’ surgeries and hospitals.

“Technology can help people manage their condition at home, free up a lot of time and save the NHS money. In a world where technology increasingly helps us manage our social and professional lives, it seems logical that it should also help people manage their health.

“With our industry partners, we will make England a world leader on telehealth. Getting another 100,000 people to benefit from this technology is a very important step and I congratulate all involved on their hard work. I hope it will be the first of many steps towards our overall goal of getting three million people to benefit in the years to come.”

David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS Commissioning Board, said: “Telehealth not only saves lives, it transforms them, so that people with a long term condition can feel in control of their life.

“The seven pathfinders that are offering this new technology to patients will give the NHS Commissioning Board important insight into how best to extend this option to any patient managing prolonged ill health or a chronic condition.

“Working closely with the local commissioners involved and informed by their experience, we plan to promote vigorously the use of telehealth across England from next April.”

Michelle Mitchell, charity director general at Age UK said: “Talk of the ever-growing costs of an ageing society and the increasing number of people living with long-term conditions misses a fundamental point – poor health and use of services are not always inevitable.

“Supporting people to care for themselves and equipping them with the skills and tools to manage their health must be a priority for the NHS. For some, telehealth will play an important part in achieving this.

Empowering people to respond to changes in their long-term conditions or helping them take control of their symptoms could help them to remain independent for longer and avoid the need for health services. For older people, this can mean staying in their own home and retaining confidence to carry on with their day-to-day lives.

“We welcome this strong commitment to self-management of long-term conditions. Whilst telehealth is not a replacement for face-to-face appointments and direct care, it could give many people a real chance of taking control of their health and improving wellbeing.”

Recent findings show that using telehealth could result in a 20 per cent reduction in emergency admissions, a 15 per cent reduction in A and E visits and a 45 per cent reduction in mortality.

This news on telehealth is part of the overall ambition to make progress towards three million people benefitting from telehealth by 2017. It makes England the leading centre for telehealth outside the US.

Tenders for the work are being developed and the NHS Commissioning Board will lead on promoting telehealth from April next year.

Read Richard Howard’s article on the launch of the NHS Mandate setting out the Government’s ambitions for health services over the remainder of the Coalition’s administration: www.carehome.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1558367/how-the-new-nhs-mandate-will-impact-upon-the-care-sector