EU-funded programme to develop first best practice guide for telehealth
Project explores secret to successfully implementing telehealth and telecare on a large scale
A consortium of NHS and industry bodies have announced the launch of a new programme that will explore the organisational and structural processes needed to successfully implement telehealth and telecare services on a large scale.
The Philips-led Advancing Care Co-ordination and Telehealth Deployment (ACT) programme is being run in conjunction with partners including NHS 24, Scotland and will cover five regions across Europe - Scotland, Groningen in the Netherlands, Lombardy in Italy, and Catalonia and the Basque Country in Spain.
“The ACT programme is a key step towards the widespread use of care co-ordination and telehealth services,” said Professor Stanton Newman of Health Psychology, School of Health Sciences at City University London and principal investigator on the UK’s Whole System Demonstrator, the largest telehealth trial conducted to date.
The programme examines how best to deploy and integrate telehealth to improve outcomes for patients and healthcare systems, and ensure they are cost effective
“It takes research in this field to the next stage of implementation. The programme examines how best to deploy and integrate telehealth to improve outcomes for patients and healthcare systems, and ensure they are cost effective.”
The five regions will help to create a menu selection of best practices by monitoring care co-ordination and telehealth initiatives in order to facilitate the deployment of telehealth solutions more widely.
Professor George Crooks, medical director at NHS 24, Scotland, said: “There are potential widespread benefits for Scotland from the knowledge generated from the ACT programme as it allows results from smaller telehealth and telecare projects to be scaled up to the next level. NHS 24 has a proven track record in the scaling up of telehealth and telecare initiatives and their integration into routine care services across Scotland. As part of our involvement we will be examining other initiatives and enabling their deployment where appropriate.”
The ACT programme could potentially transform care for millions of chronically ill people and save healthcare systems billions each year.
Chronic illness is growing to pandemic proportions and in the UK alone 15.4 million people are living with one or more long-term conditions, while 70% of the UK’s NHS budget is spent on treating long =-term diseases. Across the EU this problem is further intensified with 90 million people suffering from either heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or diabetes. Each year, these three conditions cost EU healthcare systems around €125billion.
With care co-ordination and telehealth services, chronically ill people can be treated effectively in their own homes through remote management systems and integrated networks of caregivers. The ultimate goal of these services is to improve health and help patients help themselves by giving them more independence, freedom and control over their health and lifestyle.
It is an essential evolution, but making it happen requires co-operation from across the healthcare value chain
Clinical studies have shown these services can help reduce hospital admissions, days in hospital and mortality rates. However, so far the approach has been mainly limited to pilot programmes due to the difficulty of translating such research into practice.
To do that, the ACT programme brings together healthcare authorities, companies, universities and hospitals. NHS 24, Scotland, as one of the five partner European regions, will deploy and operate its own care co-ordination and telehealth schemes for heart failure, COPD and diabetes patients. The systems will be monitored over a 24-month period to identify ‘best in class’ processes, structures and ways of working. Data and experiences will be shared between regions and the resulting optimised structures and behaviours will be published, allowing other healthcare authorities to develop their own systems.
“Philips aims to transform healthcare through meaningful, patient-centric innovation,” said Bas Verhoef of Philips Healthcare. “People increasingly want healthcare on their own terms, in ways that let them get on with their normal lives. Moving care from the hospital to the home makes that possible while also helping healthcare systems cope with the increased pressures due to aging populations and the growth of chronic disease”.
“It is an essential evolution, but making it happen requires co-operation from across the healthcare value chain. The ACT programme shows there is a strong willingness to co-operate across Europe and Philips is proud to lead such a strong consortium that is united in wanting to improve care and quality of life for millions.”
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