LAs split on telecare funding plans

Almost half of local authorities expect to increase their spending on telecare in this financial year, but a further third predict that they will cut telecare funding, according to latest figures.

Provisional data from the Care Quality Commission’s performance information on telecare in England shows a divide in local authority plans to invest in telecare in the coming months.

A total of 73 social care authorities said they expected to increase expenditure by 3% or more in 2009-10, with 39 saying they planned an increase of 20% or more. A total of 101 out of 152 social care authorities said they planned to add users in comparison with last year.

However, 47 local authorities expected a decline in telecare spending of 3% or more and 23 local authorities predicted their spending on telecare would fall by more than 20% in this financial year.

The figures, analysed by the Department of Health’s Telecare Learning and Improvement Network, show that just over £75m was spent on telecare in 2008-9 – £4m below the previous projection – and just over £79.5m was expected to be spent in 2009-10.

The telecare LIN said no formal statistics were maintained about take-up of telehealth in primary care trusts and that collection of information was complex, partly because of variations in the definition of telehealth.

However the LIN said that information it had collected from a number of sources suggested that only seven out of 152 primary care trusts have less than ten telehealth units while the four PCTs covered by the Whole System Demonstrator Project have hundreds of telehealth units.

The LIN analysed published documents to find PCTs with pilots or intentions to progress telehealth in the coming year and said interest has increased considerably over the last year.

Its analysis shows 33% of PCTs with a pilot, 23% with the intention to get involved in telehealth and 5% running a telehealth programme, in addition to the WSD sites. There was no information available on a further 35% of PCTs.

The LIN has created a spreadsheet of web links to PCTs with telehealth intentions, pilots or programmes.