Prime Minister, David Cameron, has announced that telecare and telehealth systems will be rolled out to the homes of three million people over the next five years as part of the “3 Million Lives” campaign, aiming to improve patient care and reduce costs.
In support of the campaign, the Department of Health has published findings from Whole Systems Demonstrator, a trial of telecare and telehealth services delivered to 6,000 people. It showed a 45% reduction in mortality rates, 20% reduction in emergency admissions, 15% reduction in A&E visits, 14% reduction in elective admissions and 14% reduction in bed days.
Speaking at the launch of the Strategy for UK Life Sciences in London, Mr Cameron said the aim of the new campaign is to improve three million lives over the next five years. “This is going to make an extraordinary difference to people,” he said.
“This is not just a good healthcare story. It’s going to put us miles ahead of other countries commercially too as part of our plan to make our NHS the driver of innovation in UK life sciences.”
- A home monitoring service for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes and chronic heart failure has been launched. The new service by Telehealth Solutions can be customised to the individual patient and deploys a specialist nurse triage service, working in partnership with other clinicians, to support more informed clinical decision making, while empowering the patient to take greater control of their care.
