NHS scraps plans for widespread telehealth deployment
Government admits failure as it announces rehaul of ambitious telehealth plans
The NHS has made the shock announcement that it is to scrap its plan to roll telehealth technologies out to 100,000 patients across England.
The Department of Health had hoped to develop seven pathfinder sites to lead the widespread adoption of telehealth solutions.
However, progress has stalled over the past year and the Government has now said it will instead promote a wider suite of telehealth services in areas where ‘energy already exists’ for the technologies.
“The expectation of 100,000 patients benefiting from telehealth by the end of 2013 was intended as an ambition rather than a target
The news comes after a number of reports of NHS trusts and GP clinical commissioning groups either opting out of projects after disappointing results or refusing to take part at all.
Independent research on the impact of the plans also questioned whether the programmes were good value for money.
In February, the Digital Policy Alliance praised Whitehall bosses for embracing telehealth and telecare as a way of improving patients’ self management of long-term conditions and cutting back on spending by reducing hospital admissions.
But it warned that the plan may be scuppered unless key barriers to adoption were overcome. These included problems with current policy, which means that the organisation bearing the cost of telecare and telehealth deployment, often GPs, hospitals and adult social services, do not often see any financial benefit from the outcomes.
GPs in north Yorkshire were among the first in the country to voice their concern, voting not to back the programme and refusing further funding.
Dr John Crompton, a GP in Boroughbridge and chairman of the North Yorkshire Local Medical Committee, said: “GPs have never really been convinced of the benefits [of telehealth] and it has never really got off the ground.
GPs have never really been convinced of the benefits of telehealth and it has never really got off the ground
“It has been adopted in pockets around the country, but it’s not lived up to the initial hype. There should have been a lot more consultation and consideration of the evidence before the primary care trust committed to it.”
It seems many others share the same opinion as ministers have admitted the original plan set out two years ago is ‘no longer the right model for delivery’. And the 3millionlives programme, which aimed to achieve adoption of telehealth and telecare services by three million patients by 2017 is now under threat.
An NHS England spokeswoman said: “The expectation of 100,000 patients benefiting from telehealth by the end of 2013 was intended as an ambition rather than a target, and was based on the old pathfinder delivery model introduced under the DH in 2012.”
She said that after taking control of the programme following the NHS re-organisation, NHS England ‘has recognised and acknowledged that focusing solely on the seven originally-identified pathfinder sites is no longer the right model for delivery – a view shared unanimously by our stakeholders’.
She added: “We have, therefore, with their help, radically overhauled the delivery model, moving to a model where we focus on where energy already exists locally for delivery of 3millionlives, so that we can harness it and build upon it.”
NHS England has recognised and acknowledged that focusing solely on the seven originally-identified pathfinder sites is no longer the right model for delivery
A recent investigation found that, in September this year, just 2,368 patients were actively using health monitoring devices across 26 pathfinder clinical commissioning groups.
“In light of this, we are identifying a new and rigorous set of metrics for 3millionlives, which will form an integral part of the 3millionlives delivery plan for 2014-17,” said the spokeswoman.
She said the internal review had concluded that the new model must take a less siloed approach.
It has also established a new interest group, the Integrated Care for 3millionlives Stakeholder Forum, which now includes a range of stakeholders such as local commissioners and social care representatives.
