UK:Orkney Islands:Telehealth service launched to improve care for patients with long-term conditions
Telehealth enables patients with long-term conditions to measure their vital signs in their own homes, reducing the need for them to travel to health centres for routine checkups. It also enables doctors and nurses to make fewer visits to the patients, and therefore enables better use of health resources. This is of particular importance in a rural area like the Orkney Islands, since many journeys there need to be done by ferry.
Daily health monitoring helps patients to understand their condition, reduce anxiety, and ultimately prevent unnecessary hospital admissions. In addition, increased communication with patients by phone helps to promote a more preventative approach to the management of long-term conditions.
Keith Farrer, NHS Orkney consultant nurse and clinical lead for long-term conditions, said: "We are already using video consultations for patients that have a number of different long-term conditions, and telehealth is the next step for helping other patients with long-term conditions. Due to our rural locality I expect to see telehealth reduce the need for patients to travel to their health centres for regular checkups, therefore reducing the burden of travel. It will also help some patients to better understand how to manage their illness."
Orkney Health and Care is using an integrated care platform (ICP) from a telehealth company, which is designed to support integrated, fully managed and patient-centred care. The patient uses the products to measure their pulse, blood oxygen level, weight and temperature, and is asked a series of health-related questions. They are guided through the process by voice and visual prompts which make it easy to manage.
This information is automatically transferred either by traditional landline connections or over general packet radio service (GPRS) mobile networks; data is collected and transferred to NHS Orkney's clinical staff in real time. This ensures that healthcare staff have instant access to the results, enabling them to monitor the patient's condition daily to provide timely or preventative care when needed.
Matt Marshall, Director-Healthcare for the company which supplies the telehealth products, said: "Momentum for telehealth has been growing over the last few years - there is increasing pressure on NHS services and a need to look for innovative ways to manage long-term conditions. Telehealth is well-suited to the remote location of Orkney, and will play a pivotal role in helping transform care delivery and to benefit patients and healthcare providers alike."
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Quelle/Source: epractice, 06.10.2010
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