Councils lag behind on telecare plans
A minority of councils in England are starting to put plans in place for telecare services but most have made few or no preparations, according to survey. The survey results are based on a questionnaire about telecare circulated by independent consultancy, the Telecare Alliance, to the 150 councils in England with responsibility for social services. […]
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Technology effective in dementia home care
Assistive technology for dementia sufferers living at home can be cost-effective, increase patients’ independence and deliver support to unpaid carers, but it must be properly targeted and maintained, according to an extensive new study by the head of a Northamptonshire care project. The study ‘Safe at Home: The effectiveness of assistive technology in supporting the […]
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Adapt or perish
Barbara Stuttle, NHS Connecting for Heath’s community nursing lead, speaks to EHI Primary Care about the urgent need for the profession to grapple with IT.
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Scotland opts for national electronic health records
The Scottish Executive has announced that they are to follow the recommendations of the Kerr Report and implement a national system of electronic health records, together with telecare throughout the country. The Executive’s plans for modernising NHS Scotland, entitled ‘Delivering for Health’ details plans for the implementation of a national IT system, including the plans for […]
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Mobile phone transmits your ECG
Engineers at Loughborough University have devised a mobile phone that easily receive, collate and send a person’s ECG and other vital signs and send them directly to clinicians, eliminating the need for large, fixed, telecare systems in patients’ homes. Professor Bryan Woodward and Dr Fadlee Rasid from the university’s department of electronic and electrical engineering have developed […]
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E-health not reaching full potential, says study
An industry study into the takeup of e-health technology within the UK has concluded that health professionals are not taking full advantage of what’s available to them, and that waiting for supporting infrastructure to be put in place by the National Programme for IT is not necessary. The study [PDF, 350K], undertaken by The E-Health Innovation […]
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Tunstall teams up with Honeywell HomMed
Tunstall, the UK telecare and telehealth solutions specialist, has formed an distribution and alliance agreement with Honeywell HomMed, a leading US provider of remote patient monitoring devices. Under the agreement Tunstall will offer Honeywell’s HomMed Genesis monitor throughout the UK, already used by 350,000 patients. Tunstall says it will target the chronic disease management market, […]
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Europe-wide heart monitoring trial shows promise
The organisers of a recently completed pan-European trial aimed at finding out if telecare can be an effective tool in monitoring patients with chronic heart disease have called the project a success. Eleven centres in three countries, England, Poland and Italy, participated in the Heart Failure in Hospital and Home (HHH) trial, which was supported […]
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King’s Fund calls for technology use in chronic care
A King’s Fund report into the management of long-term conditions has called for PCTs to put more emphasis on using technology to involve patients in decision-making and self-management. The paper, authored by south London GP Rebecca Rosen and research fellow Sara Corben, recommends that PCTs should train healthcare professionals to point newly-diagnosed patients in the […]
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£80m telecare grant to shape new care patterns
An £80m grant to shape new patterns of social care using telecare has been announced by the Department of Health (DH). News of the grant, which will be available to local authorities for investment over two years from April 2006, was accompanied by new guidance on Building telecare in England Liam Byrne, minister for care […]
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