Response to Department of Health announcement on the headline findings of the Whole Systems Demonstrator Programme
John Dyson, Chief Executive of Telehealth Solutions
“The headline findings from the Whole Systems Demonstrator (WSD) programme clearly reinforce existing findings that demonstrate the real-life benefits provided by telecare and telehealth to patients and healthcare systems. Telehealth Solutions welcomes the early data from the pilot sites which show the potential of such systems to reduce mortality rates, reduce emergency admissions and bring cost savings to the NHS. These results are in line with data we have seen from our own trial sites over the past five years.”
“Telehealth Solutions fully supports the Department of Health and government’s drive to adopt these new technologies and the 3 Million Lives campaign could mark a significant step forward in revolutionising healthcare provision in the UK.”
“There are enormous savings to be made from the implementation of telehealth that could be reinvested in patient care; we estimate that these savings could be over £1bn per year which combined with the improvement in clinical outcomes demonstrated in the WSD results makes the adoption of this approach a real and pressing necessity.”
“Transforming the way we deliver healthcare services by working in close collaboration with clinicians to support them in understanding and embracing these new technologies is essential. It is in this way that these new systems will be utilised to best effect and provide the benefits clearly demonstrated through the WSD programme to them and their patients.”
Telehealth Solutions recently launched a new home health monitoring service combined with specialist triage care for patients living with long-term conditions. The service enables nurses to both remotely monitor patients and conduct health checks on a daily basis.
This service gives improved quality of care and allows patients to have greater control of their health and wellbeing, resulting in earlier clinical interventions, reduced number of unplanned hospital admissions, preventable GP appointments and better prioritising of home care visits by their NHS clinician.
It is a significant step forward for patients with these long-term conditions as they can now take more control over their treatment plan and actively participate in consultations in collaboration with clinicians.
About the Whole Systems Demonstrator Programme
The Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) programme is the largest randomised control trial of telehealth and telecare in the world, involving 6191 patients, 238 GP practices across three sites, Newham, Kent and Cornwall. WSD was set up to look at cost effectiveness, clinical effectiveness, organisational issues, effect on carers and workforce issues. It focused on three conditions, diabetes, COPD and coronary heart disease.
The headline findings (December 2011) can be found at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_131684
Posted on Wednesday, 07 December 2011 under UK Government Home Pod Homepage