News Release
For immediate release
January 04, 2011
ROUND TABLE PARTICIPANTS AGREE FULLY INTEGRATED HEALTHCARE SERVICES ARE KEY IF TELEHEALTH IS TO BE SUCCESSFULLY ROLLED OUT AT SCALE
Participants at a Future Trends Round Table chaired by Dr Michael Dixon OBE at The King’s Fund on Thursday December 8, 2011, agreed that telehealth could only deliver benefits if it is implemented as part of fully integrated heatlhcare services involving social care, primary care, secondary care and self care by patients. The Round Table was organised by Salix Consulting and new service provider, Appello Telehealth, to coincide with the publication of the Department of Health’s (DH) Whole Systems Demonstrator (WSD) Programme and the Government’s announcement on December 5, 2011 of its 3 Million Lives (3ML) campaign.
It was attended by GPs with experience of using telehealth in the WSD trial, GPs who are exploring how they might implement it, academics from the University of Hull’s Centre for Telehealth and a patient representative. While debate was robust around a number of factors, including how telehealth might be funded, participants agreed unanimously that without fully integrated healthcare services it will be very difficult to implement telehealth at scale.
Carl Atkey, head of Appello said: “It is interesting to note that participants’ comments largely reflect the initial findings of the WSD report, which is that the best results will happen only where telehealth is delivered properly, and this requires a more integrated health and social care service, something the Appello service has been specifically designed to support. Increased use of telehealth is likely to drive dramatic improvements in the quality of life for people living with long term conditions. The results of the WSD pilot fully support our thinking around the importance of telehealth in the UK. Appello’s cost effective, monthly, pay-as-you-use model allows our service to be adopted at scale by local authorities and health commissioners charged with delivering long-term care in the community.”
Dr Shah GP lead at Newham Health Partnership said: “Based on our experience from the WSD, telehealth must be fully integrated into a patient’s care pathway. Patients and their families must also be on board, and this takes time. We found that improved quality of life for patients and cost benefits to the commissioning group emerged after approximately six months.”
Lynn Young primary care adviser at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said: “Technology is provoking the revolution and is a catalyst for whole system change to improve the nation’s health by facilitating each individual’s confidence to self-manage one or more long term conditions.”
Appello provides nurse-led, home-based, personal monitoring, advice and support without the need for a large capital outlay. Unlike current telehealth products on the market, it provides a complete service for a cost effective, monthly ‘pay-as-you-use’ charge. Appello will publish a white paper based on the full findings of the Round Table early in 2012.
For more information / and or images please contact sarah.wrixon@salixconsulting.com or victoria.mayman@salixconsulting.com, 020 8675 4779 or out of hours on 07725 555030.
