Tunstall has announced that it is close to finalising the acquisition of Sweden-based telecare company STT Condigi which has a strong presence in many of the Nordic countries. The two companies say the acquisition is prompted by synergies between their strengths. The STT Condigi CEO Kristoffer Axelsson will continue to lead the combined Nordic business. Tunstall press release.

Belated in every sense, Editor Steve is pleased to feature a good news item on the Northern Ireland remote telemonitoring healthcare service: a user-oriented story in the local press Modern technology is ‘life-changing’. Heads-up thanks to Toni Bunting, TANN Ireland.

San Jose, California April 29 - May 1

This year, the education program has been built around 5 macro focus areas: Business; Finance & Economics; Model Programs & Best Practices; Scientific Research; Outcomes & Evidence, Innovative Applications and Public Policy.  These themes guide the entire program, and are addressed in all the educational tracks. Details and registration.

London, 6-8 March

Approaching quickly...the King's Fund International Congress on Telehealth and Telecare 2012. Theme topics: Evaluating telehealth and telecare projects; Promoting engagement and partnerships for the Actions of the 'European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing'; Telehealth innovations. Details here.

StartUp Health, profiled by us at Health 2.0 NYC in August, has started up its own Health Academy, to train entrepreneurs at various stages of developing health and wellness products/services through a 'structured curriculum'. There will be four classes, with 10 companies in the first training in March. Their goal is to build 1,000 businesses in the next 10 years. StartUp Health will also be at SXSW 10-12 March in Austin, Texas and in New York at NextGenHealth 29-30 March. Newsletter.

From research2guidance, part 2 of their mobile health report, this time concentrating on the impact of smartphones on mobile health. International Healthcare Technology reports that their market finding for 2012 is $1.3 billion, up from $718 million. The report concentrates on the impact of smartphone applications on mobile health, followed by the market scope of and developments in mHealth through 2016. What might not make your weekend is that the report will set you back € 1,890.00. Mobile Health Market Report 2011-2016: The Impact of Smartphone Applications on the Mobile Health Industry (Vol. 2)

GPs in Surrey will soon be able to identify which patients are likely to need more attention to prevent hospital admissions. NHS Surrey has commissioned Docobo Ltd to supply practices with its new risk stratification tool called ArtemusICS. Using patient data from primary and secondary care, the tool creates dashboards that are easy for doctors and nurses to use. Docobo press release. [Good to hear from Docobo again after a long time quiet.]

Summary of Philips Healthcare's 2011 in item from FRPConnect. Note the remote health monitoring sales in Singapore and Lifeline PERS agreement in Japan. Philips Healthcare Showed 3% Sales Growth In 2011.

Guy Dewsbury, Managing Director of gdewsbury, which is a freelance specialist technology writing service and consultancy, takes a thoughtful look at data security in telecare call centres and asks a few pertinent questions.

Let me state at the off that there are some really great call centres that I have been privileged to work with and some others I have become acquainted with that deserve high praise.

That said, when you pick up the phone and speak to your bank, you feel protected...

No more midnight phone calls "All the buttons have disappeared from my Outlook - can you come round and fix it now?" The Telikin [get it?] touch-PC is designed for older people to use, and might be a good compromise for many. Telikin touch-PC targets the gray dollar. GizMag item. Heads-up thanks to Nicholas Robinson.

Do any readers know of council-run telecare services in ENGLAND that are charging for the initial supply of packages of telecare equipment in contravention of the Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc) Act (Qualifying Services) (England) Regulations 2003? Just asking! Editor Steve.

Paul Burstow, the Minister for Care Services, today launched Birmingham City Council's initiative to reach 25,000 users of telecare and telehealth over the next three years. [TA Oct. 2011] Like Cornwall's 30,000 aim, that's just under 1% of the 3millionlives (3ML) uncounted and uncountable 'target', so there are only 98 more councils and NHS organisations to sign up... How much of the £14m mentioned in Tunstall's press release (PDF) is new funding is not clear.*

In participating in the event Paul Burstow reaffirmed the Government's enthusiasm for the 3ML scheme, where the industry bears all the costs (and blame if it fails) and the Government takes all the credit if it succeeds. But do not expect to count yourself amongst the 3 million if you are detained at Her Majesty's pleasure. Except he didn't say those things, of course.

Paul Burstow MP and Cllr. Sue Anderson at today's launch (Photo: Context PR)

* NEAR INSTANT UPDATE: The answer, I'm told by a little bird (and I don't mean Twitter), is 'none of it is new' and that the £14m represents a reduction in the £18m that the council had been planning to spend on telehealth and telecare before it lost a legal challenge on changing their FACS criteria. So, in the context of the October announcement which pre-dated 3ML, this is best seen as a lesson from Birmingham on how to jump on a bandwaggon. Ed. Steve

Why does the Minister have a man's elbow in his ear? This picture is clearly ripe for a caption competition...no prizes, but leave your observations in a comment.

UPDATE Friday 3 Feb: The Guardian reports it...Tunstall gets two mentions...someone will surely get a bonus this year!

23 February 2012, London

Excellent speakers at this low-cost Royal Society of Medicine event: Telehealth, telemedicine and telecare: Introductory one-day seminar. Plus two in-depth telehealth follow-up days planned on The respiratory and circulatory systems (30 March) and Mental health and dementia (1 June). Details here and a discount for booking all three courses together can be obtained by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Triple Tree, an investment banking firm which seems to be one of the few making multiple active investments in telehealth and telecare, as well as sponsoring the iAwards in wireless health [TA 22 Jan], recently released this white paper on 'Innovation & the Health Care Needs of Seniors' which provides a wealth of information on technology use in home care.

Back in October we wrote about Ekso Bionic's exoskeleton 'wearable robot' to assist rehabilitating patients and paraplegics in walking. It looks like Wired (UK edition) and SmartPlanet are taking notice. It also seems that Ekso is on track to release the device later this year at $100,000 per unit, with ten top US rehab clinics have already signed up for the first batch. At-home units are projected for later this year.

An excellent canter around what telehealth is (and is not), its world-wide take-up and its potential. Suitable as an introduction to the subject and also a useful round-up for knowledgeable readers. Written by Rajib Ghosh from the Bosch Healthcare stable, and Theo Ahadome from the InMedica paddock. Telehealth’s promising global future Analytics Magazine.

Living Alone With Pets and Telecare Service is a short blog piece promoting Sentry Telecare's automated 'we-phone-you' checking service in Canada and the US. However, it makes a point that for many people, making sure that their pet is safe if something befalls them is very important.

When 'telecare', in correct context and without further explanation, gets a mention in the UK's newspaper The Daily Mirror, then we know that telecare has finally arrived. £500m funding gap leaves elderly care in crisis

Dick Vinegar, the Patient from Hell, wonders in The Guardian, why IT-literate junior doctors do not go on to push technological initiatives later in their career. "Something happens to deprive doctors of their appetite for being the champions of technical change. It may be they are blocked by the obstruction of administrators and superiors... The system gets them down in the end." Where have all the NHS IT champions gone?

Telemedicine - An Introduction by Devendra Patel (MD, Medisoft Telemedicine Pvt Ltd) and Dr Sanjeev Mehta (telemedicine pioneer) has just been published and is aimed at teaching basics of telemedicine to nursing and paramedic technician students in India. Purchase on Amazon.

Following an investigation into the other business interests of Telecare Technology's director Jamie Cole, after concerns raised by a family member of one of the users of its phone-based reminder service, a spokesman for Staffordshire County Council said "...we feel the benefits of the service to people and their carers still warrants the service's use where applicable."

Report from Staffordshire's local paper The Sentinel, with a misleading headline and at least one comment from the public that indicates a contrary opinion to concern about the 'Pick Up Artist' business. Hmm...On revisiting the item the comments appear to have been turned off...And now the original headline has been amended too.

Flagstaff hospital using remote patient monitoring Good one from the Washington Examiner (US).

Should nurses be at the forefront of telehealth? Good one in The Guardian, by David Barrett.

Why telehealth will transform care of Kent’s patients Good one from Kent (UK) which is quietly (these days) getting on with its telehealth mainstreaming.

Telecare charging plan dropped Good news from the Orkneys (UK).

Help at touch of a button scheme to be expanded Good news from Doncaster (UK).

Cumbria council defends its Careline funding axe Bad news from Cumbria (UK).

Wardens could be axed in sheltered housing Good or bad, depending on your perspective. Newcastle (UK).

No plans for telehealth in prisons Most abysmal Ministerial statement of the past few years. That Paul Burstow got away without being struck down by a thunderbolt is the best arguement for the non existence of a deity! (UK).

"[Popsi Cube from] Popsicare allows for the integration and transmission of remotely captured pulse and blood pressure data along with patients' answers to a medical questionnaire." [Then let's hope they've got their Bosch patents portfolio covered]. Medical Design Online article.

"A new platform for wearable electronics, known as the FLORA, was announced by its creators Adafruit Industries on Friday. Essentially a small, round, fabric-friendly circuit board that looks a little like a flower, the FLORA will, when ready, be launched with a variety of accessories and software. These will include, we gather, ... GPS, 3-axis accelerometer..." (Gizmag) The author speculates that it might be possible to use this to create "a shirt that tweets on your behalf if you fall down a well". How right might he be? FLORA - a platform for your wearable DIY electronics projects.

Published last week...as it has a distribution of 45,000 you probably know about it already. PDF download. It contains UK policy-related updates and, for the first time, the news links are arranged by category rather than date:

• Policy, funding and trends
• Business intelligence and product development
• Research, evaluation and evidence
• Long term conditions
• Learning and events
• Other useful links

Just catching up on the 3 Million Lives (3ML) website, which was launched last week... Is there anything interesting on it? Not much beyond the occasional typo; the information that Angela Single (Clinical Director BT Health) chairs the Working Group and Gil Baldwin (Tunstall Group CEO) is the Vice-Chair and, perhaps, the Concordat between the Department of Health and 'the industry', which you can download from this page. But don't expect to find any mention of funding.

First telehealth... do you have a copy of North Yorkshire and Yorks (NYY) PCT's Telehealth Internal Audit Report (August/September? 2011) that you'd like to share with us? It's the one that reveals more of what went on during the telehealth procurement and was the subject to a FOI request in October. The result of the request is not known so it may be in the public domain but we have been unable to trace a copy on the internet.

Second, could you put editor Steve in touch with a GP who has participated in the NYY telehealth scheme and who would be willing to talk to a media contact? This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Third, are you able to update us on the state of the Swindon telehealth mainstreaming, ideally supported with a link to an official document such as the Swindon PCT Monthly Performance Report? The latest one editor Steve can find is July 2011 where the affordability of reaching the '800 target' is doubted. The last Telecare Aware mention of Swindon was in September 2008, when their 35 person pilot was mainstreamed with 50.

Finally, and nothing to do with telecare or telehealth, if you use Microsoft Office 2010 or 2007 - particularly in a 'corporate' environment - please could you try out, and give feedback on, a new 'App Store for Office' that editor Steve is involved in developing. Details and download here.

Proteus Biomedical's Helius 'sensor-enabled tablets' can be taken with pills or incorporated directly into medicines by the manufacturers. The sensors are activated by stomach acid and each sensor, the size of a grain of sand, contains a tiny amount of copper and magnesium that creates a voltage used to power the device's signal. They are to be introduced into the UK in September through the Lloydspharmacy chain. New pill with ingestible microchip monitors you from the inside SmartPlanet item.

Update 30 Jan:  Telecare Aware has been tracking Proteus since 2009 (the infamous 'tattletale pill' era).  Ed. Donna notes that the UK version is called Helios but the system in the US is dubbed Raisin (notice of patent award in July '11).  Our considerable back file is easy to access--just enter 'Proteus' in the search area.

Cornwall is aiming high. Good! With its Whole System Demonstrator phase over - effectively a 3-year pilot project that was bigger than many so-called 'mainstreamed' places - if anyone can do it, they can! NHS Cornwall in Telehealth 30,000 patient target BBC News Cornwall.

The news that Medicare and private insurance reimbursement for eHealth may be on the way is a hopeful sign for companies in the field. Historically, it's been a major barrier to adoption. At a CES panel, Dr. Joseph Kvedar of the Center for Connected Health/Partners Healthcare (Boston) predicted a brighter future because of recent trials, as did Robert Jarrin of Qualcomm, which is placing big bets on mobile health through its Qualcomm Life initiative [TA 10 Dec]. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation is also providing grants and programs to incentivize trials of new care models. But is it the same hope we've been treating ourselves to for years? Will patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) and accountable care organizations (ACOs) really incorporate eHealth like they hope? Read Neil Versel's article in Information Week and decide for yourself. Telehealth Reimbursement Will Grow, Health Leaders Say

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has been tracking American internet usage for some years, and has been tracking online health accessing and the role P2P social networking plays in health information. 'The Rise of the e-Patient' is a short presentation on their latest findings, followed by an article by Susannah Fox of Pew which also updates their tip sheet on online health information usage.

Usually top ten eHealth lists emphasize mobile, with many familiar companies. This is from a different, clinically oriented perspective. For instance, #2 is the HandGiene System--RFID for tracking and measuring handwashing compliance to solve the major problem of hospital hygiene. #3 is the Semaphore search engine to aid clinical web searches for patients. #4 is Partners Healthcare (Boston) text messaging for pre-natal health reminders. #5 is the Destiny digital pen system currently being used by Wolverhampton NHS to transmit automatically the recorded written data to the secure NHS data centre. Doro+MyGlucoHealth, Dengue Trends, Health Unlocked and more. Top ten e-health innovations HospitalManagement.net

A study just published in the Jan/Feb issue of Telemedicine and e-Health (Barriers to Telemedicine: Survey of Current Users in Acute Care Units) outlines the regulatory, financial and cultural challenges to robotic telemedicine (RTM). The study, led by Dr. Herb Rogove, President and CEO of C3O Telemedicine, was conducted in conjunction with researchers from the Mayo Clinic, Arizona and UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles. Surveyed were physicians, nurses and administrators in the US, Canada and Ireland. Barriers to Telemedicine Limit Patient Access to Quality Care (Telepresence Options article) Hat tip to Trevor Cradduck.

The Wireless Life Sciences Alliance (WLSA) and Triple Tree (investment bankers) have announced a 'call for nominations' for the 4th Annual TripleTree iAwards for mobile and wireless healthcare. The three categories for the 2012 iAwards are:

Operational Effectiveness – Best solution for reducing costs and improving operational efficiency

Clinical Application – Best solution that enriches clinical care delivery

Consumer Experience – Best solution to enrich the consumer or patient experience

Online applications are due 30 March with the finalists announced 23 April. Awards will be held at the 7th Annual WLSA Wireless Health Convergence Summit on 24 May at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, California. Release.

Neil Versel over at Information Week takes a thorough look at Ford's tweaks to its in-vehicle health monitoring system which was displayed to the over 153,000 visitors to CES. The Microsoft Sync 'infotainment' system is now mounted on the dashboard, which will also link up your health monitoring devices. Ford is also partnering with Partners Health spinoff Healthrageous for mobile apps that coach management of chronic diseases and preventive health activities. Ford Shows 'Car That Cares' At CES

Update 21 Jan: Scientific American gets into the Ford and the Aging Technology Alliance (AgeTek) with a 60 second podcast (transcript follows).

[Ed. Donna realizes the following may sound rather cranky, but perhaps it is an antidote to and an observation on the post-CES afterglow that annually suffuses the landscape, and raises the mHealth fervor expressed on various boards and forums.]

It may sound far-fetched, but it is possible to live a long, disease-free life. Most of the conditions that kill us, including cancer and heart disease, could be prevented or delayed by a new way of looking at and treating health. The end of illness is near.

One can only wish. The Wall Street Journal is now in the territory of Life Extension--the bible of the mild hypochondriacs who are seriously into the science of longevity. But Dr. Agus attributes this to patient engagement--young patients...

Back in October 2010 Telecare Aware readers were raising doubts about the cost-effectiveness of North Yorkshire and Yorks' PCTs procurement of 2000 telehealth units. [In fairness, not all the £3.2m project cost went to equipment supplier Tunstall. We understand that nearly £1m of it went to project consultants Ernst & Young.]

Now the local paper reports "The programme is the biggest* telehealth project ordered by a single organisation in England but an internal audit report by North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT), seen by the Yorkshire Post, has failed to find any evidence to justify its scale."

The Yorkshire Post has four takes on this story and reveals a few more interesting facts:

NHS chiefs face 'wasted millions' row over hi-tech telehealth plan

Devices hailed by Cameron languish on shelves

Long-term sick to get benefit of distant monitoring

Review urges adoption of new health technology amid worries over finances

UPDATE Sunday - and another one...looks like the 'health chiefs' are trying to do some damage limitation. (Or else it is the end fragment of something else...)

Electronic monitoring speeds recovery and return to independent living

* There has since been the Gloucsetershire procurement of 2,000 telehealth units from Tunstall. Project cost £5million.

UPDATE Wed 25th - eHealth Insider has some additional information. "The audit found no evidence to explain why so many devices were purchased, other than 'anecdotal' reports that the decision was “not based on any prevalence or other data, but rather on the maximum number of units that the PCT could afford." Yorks telehealth delays run up costs.

UPDATE Thur 26th - the story is flexing its legs with more people wading in. Here are the more interesting ones...

• Pro-telehealth David Hinchliffe (former MP and Chair of the Commons Health Select Committee) [and ex-adviser to Tunstall] lays into the local GPs: GPs lagging behind times over use of telehealthcare units [worth reading]
• An American take: Telehealth failure a cautionary tale for U.S. (fierceHealthIT) based on Management in Practice's Practices offered cash to refer patients to telehealth item - worth viewing for the end of page comment by a GP in Gloucestershire, which has an even costlier project - see * above.
• Then there's the item by the GP's own paper, The Pulse: GPs urge ministers to rethink telehealth drive as low takeup in pilot area revealed. Definitely worth reading the comments here.
• NHS has to pay docs to put life-sign sensors in patients' digs The Register mangles it a bit.
• Kerry Wheeler, assistant director of strategy for NHS North Yorkshire and York, denies that incentives are being offered to GPs...they are [just] a "small payment to cover the initial workload associated with identifying and referring patients" ‘No cash incentives’ to promote GP health systems The York Press.

Well, you know where you read it first, 15 months ago.

Updated 13 January

The Consumer Electronics Show this week is when gadgets take over Las Vegas. Out of the seemingly endless stream of releases and news out of CES--plus Living in Digital Times and Silvers Summit which focus on technology to assist the older adult--some highlights from Day 2:

The Silvers Summit's first-ever Sterling Award, co-sponsored with AARP, was awarded in five categories to some companies familiar to TA readers:

• Health & Wellness – Company: GrandCare Systems, Product: GC HomeBase
• Education/Continued Learning – Company: LiveMocha, Product: LiveMocha
• Entertainment – Company: My Gait LLC, Product: My Gait Senior Computer
• Relationships/Family Caregiving – Company: No Tie LLC, Product: AutoVerbal
• Cause-Worthy Product/Service – Company: Great Grabz, Product: Unique Touch Grab Bars

The top five winning entries were posted to the Silvers Summit website and Facebook page. The competition relied on social media to invite the public to choose their favorite among the five to select the "Silvers Choice" award. In addition, a 'people's choice' was selected via votes on the Silvers Summit website and Facebook page--GC Homebase by GrandCare Systems. And Martin Cooper, who while at Motorola in the 1970s pioneered the cellular phone (a brick at the time), received their first Innovator Award. Quote of the day? "Best way to think out of the box is not to make boxes in the first place". Follow Silvers Summit on Twitter #silverssummit and #ces

Independa, developer of both the Internet-connected Angela and Artemis web-based social connectedness + telehealth systems [TA 10 Dec], is going 'basic POTS telehealth' with Health Measures, which connects over the phone to their Caregiver Web App. Independa also announced a new alliance with the Zenith division of LG Electronics to integrate the Angela social connectedness web services with their specifically designed multimedia commercial TVs to be installed in LTC communities. A very smart idea in integrating with a global company which has a strong chance of breaking through in this area with AL and SNFs. Release.

On the sleep monitoring front, relatively new entrant NovaSom is partnering with Verizon Wireless to offer the NovaSom AccuSom home sleep test for sleep apnea (a/k/a obstructive sleep disorder or OSD). AccuSom is the only FDA-cleared wireless home diagnosis test available for OSD. It measures respiration airflow, oxygen saturation, pulse rate, respiration effort and snoring. Release.

Continua Health Alliance will make its Design Guidelines publicly available for download free of charge after an eight month pilot phase. According to the press communications, the Alliance is giving public access to the Guidelines to help technology companies streamline, provide seamless interoperability and connectivity, and simplify the development of personal connected health products and services. Continua will make the 2011 Guidelines available as a free download in April of this year. Release

Qualcomm staged a second announcement at CES on Tuesday of the Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize for the development of mobile diagnostic devices much like those depicted on Star Trek. While our readers knew about this when first announced in spring last year [TA 16 May 11], the awards funded by the Qualcomm Foundation are stunning: the top team will win $7 million, second prize is $2 million, third prize $1 million. It seems like the 'tricorder' idea is hot, with other devices claiming Bones-like status: according to the following article, last month the Canadian government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded a $38.5 million initiative; the (unnamed in article) Infrascanner (see article following) is considered to be in the category, and a startup called Scanadu is working on a mobile device which parents can use to monitor their kids' health. MSNBC.com catches and mashes it up for you

Far from the hullaballoo of CES, the US Navy Office of Naval Research, which also supports medical research, announced the FDA approval of the first handheld, battery-powered medical device, the Infrascanner, that can image an intracranial hematoma in that other 'golden hour' after an injury. For military medics it's simple; according to Dr. Michael Given, ONR's program manager for expeditionary medicine, combat casualty care, "You can do the whole scan in a minute or so." We tried to make it simple. Just a red-green lighted spot kind of display. So red, you're in trouble; green, everything's great. There are three sizes of red dots so you can tell if the bleeding is progressing. Simple and effective." Traumatic brain injury (TBI) casualties have been substantial in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and hematomas are notoriously difficult to detect in the field. Plans are to deploy the device first to Marine Corps Systems Command to test 'ruggedizing' features and evaluate field performance; if it survives the Marines, it will survive the Navy. Philadelphia-based InfraScan, the early stage company which developed the Infrascanner, received funding from both the ONR and private investors. Armed With Science article. ONR Release

Mrs Kathleen Cliff, aged 74 died in hospital two weeks after a fall. She lay on her floor all night until a neighbour found her. Her phone and pendant alarm (PERS or medical alarm button for our American readers) were out of reach. Our condolences to her family, who are now encouraging other alarm users to wear their pendants at all times.

We hope the coroner asks the right question. Not "How can people be encouraged to wear their pendants?" But "Why was this lady not using a system that does not rely on someone's active participation to raise an alarm?" Considering such systems have been available since the turn of this century, services that do not offer these options should surely now carry some of the blame for such deaths?

'This little pendant could save your life' The Star (Sheffield)

Hands up who thinks it is a good idea to pay $6000 each for a videoconferencing system on wheels and then expect parents of young children to let it roam about their home under the control of a doctor or a technician? Someone at the Children’s Hospital in Boston did... Our patients’ stories: using medical robots at home. Hospital blog.

ADDENDUM: "Last month, InTouch, which makes in-hospital robots, filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Vgo Communications, claiming the New Hampshire company was improperly using two of its patented technologies dealing with remote controls and front-end cameras." After surgery, a robot may be at your side Boston.com (read both pages).