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3 Febuary edition of the Telemedicine Reporter International Edition (PDF) for download thanks to US Tele-Medicine. To be emailed when the next is released email their media dept. |
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| The gist is...If you have a serious comment to make anonymously...email it, don't just post it. |
Truly anonymous comments - where the writer is unknown - are not published unless they are unexceptional.
Comments or articles where the authorship is known but are offered for publication anonymously are considered on their merits. (Email Steve or Donna in confidence.) There are some circumstances where it is necessary to be close to a particular situation to be able to throw light on it but to write about it publicly would jeopardise the author's position. In that case, the decision to publish an item anonymously hinges on the question of whether or not it is informed opinion that will add insight to, or might start, a debate on a particular topic.
Unsubstantiated allegations of illegal behaviour or substandard products, for example, would not be posted unless they could be independently verified, in which case we would probably publish them ourselves.
Just because a post, article or comment, etc. is published on Telecare Aware readers cannot and should not infer that the editors agree with the author, anonymous or not.
Steve Hards
Donna Cusano
Editors
steve.hards@telecareaware.com
donna.cusano@telecareaware.com
Britain's got pendants because ... |
| Monday, 01 June 2009 18:38 |
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Hi Pam. I don't believe we have met, but it probably won't be for lack of me trying. I am pretty sure I have written to you a couple of times about the unique and profoundly useful, preventative telecare service that my company provides, and haven't had a response! Okay, I am pretty sure I've written and when I get back to my normal PC I will check. Sorry to be provocative, and what follows is not aimed at you at all - but my point is really, that a lot of independent companies find it extremely difficult to get a foot in the door when the "telecare project officers" in many instances look to the existing suppliers of their council operated community alarm teams. Those suppliers are normally one of the big players, which is fine but the independent developers need a look in. Then to make matters worse quite often when a telecare project officer makes the bold move to use a new piece of technology or a new service (and hurrah there are some people out there) there is quite often resistance internally from the people that refer users to telecare to change from what they are use to referring people to, and that is community alarm. Also, quite often, any internal council operated community alarm team is very resistant to the idea that the council spends money with an independent third party without involving it in the loop, they feel threatened by that spend going elsewhere, thus presenting another hurdle for sustaining new telecare initiatives. There is a huge vested interest on many levels in community alarm and a lot of people are going to fight to maintain its grip across local authorities and its suppliers are going to fight to keep that grip. The fact is more than 50% of people are not even wearing their "panic buttons" at any given moment. Quite often independent suppliers of other telecare complementary to community alarms (and I have heard this from several others) are not even afforded the courtesy of a meaningful response after having a taken a day out to visit a local authority at some considerable expense. This lack of common courtesy would have no place in any other form of business and is another barrier to moving beyond community alarm. I don’t know what’s going to change this situation, perhaps it will take just the right start-up company with something that works really really well, a strong vision and the passion to keep on hammering away until things do. |
