Telehealth and Telecare
- Created on 26 March 2014
- Written by RJA
- Hits: 119
A briefing by the Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology of the Houses of Parliament describes current use of telecare and telehealth in the UK and looks at likely future developments in technology.
Overview:
- Telehealth (remote monitoring) and telecare (remote collection of patient data) are increasingly used in the care of the older people and those with long-term health problems.
- The Government has supported initiatives to assess the benefits of integrated care supported by telehealth and telecare.
- The largest of these showed a potential reduction in deaths among patients, but found that telehealth and telecare did not reduce use of social or health care.
- Evidence to date suggests that to be cost effective, telehealth and telecare would need to be implemented at a large scale.
- The success of telehealth and telecare will depend on doctors, patients and workers across a wide range of sectors.