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In recent years, digital technology has transformed many areas of our lives.

We can book holidays, renew our vehicle licences, manage our bank accounts and do our shopping online. Grandparents can keep in touch with children and grandchildren using Skype and Facebook.

We can keep up to date with unfolding news stories using Twitter and the Internet.

Although perhaps a little late to join the digital party, the health and social care sector are starting to look at how digital technology can transform the way their services are delivered.

Already many GPs offer online web access for appointment booking and repeat prescriptions, some provide telephone consultations and a few also offer secure messaging or email access.

Panic buttons, fall detectors and other monitoring devices that are linked to a call routing service and alert friends and family by telephone if something has happened to an elderly or vulnerable person at home are widely available.

Digital technologies have not yet transformed health and care services the way they have in our domestic and working lives, but the tide is starting to turn.

An umbrella term is ‘digital health’ or ‘connected health’, defined broadly to mean the use of information and communications technologies to replace, augment or complement conventional face to face health and social care delivery.

This can include:

  • Remote consultations between patients and health professionals, or between health professionals, using Skype or video links (telemedicine);
  • Remote monitoring providing equipment (including potentially wearable technology or implantable devices) to enable patients to monitor and self manage their health at home, shared electronically with health providers (telehealth or m-health);
  • Video-links and sharing of files and images to support a remote examination of a patient by a health professional, usually with another health professional in attendance with the patient (supported telemedicine);
  • Telecoaching, teletherapy or tele-rehab to encourage healthy living, self management and self care, often by a nurse or allied health professional;
  • Community alarms to enable patients to call for help in an emergency (telecare);
  • Providing equipment to enable people to manage risks associated with independent living in and outside the home (telecare or assistive technology);
  • Sharing of patient records; patient controlled records; social media and related products to enable patients to interact with each other and with health professionals (e-health).

Most of these activities are already available in some form in Cumbria, although often limited in their availability and at an early stage of use.

A listing of a number of existing projects are available on the Cumbria Rural Health Forum website, www.ruralhealthlink.co.uk.

The Cumbria Rural Health Forum came together in the autumn of 2013, in response to a variety of people recognising that rural areas face specific needs in accessing health and social care.

Although Cumbria includes a number of urban centres, these are dispersed meaning that travel times and distances tend to be relatively high.

Often people have to travel out of the county (eg to Newcastle, Manchester, or Preston) if they are referred to see a specialist consultant.

Health and social care professionals tend to work in smaller GP practices, clinics or department, so can be isolated from professional networks.

Recruitment and retention of professionals in Cumbria is a major problem.

Research into rural health issues has shown similar issues elsewhere in the world and that other countries are turning to digital health to solve these problems.

Sparsely populated countries such as Australia, Canada and parts of the USA are active in the field.

The Cumbria Rural Health Forum now has 58 members, of which 26 are public sector and 32 are private and voluntary sector.

It is not open to the general public, but includes patient support and advocacy groups.

As it develops into its second year of operation, there will be many opportunities for technology companies and social enterprises to get involved, to identify and develop new products and services.

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Autor(en)/Author(s): Alison Marshall

Quelle/Source: in-cumbria, 27.02.2015

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