Soapbox

Independent consultant cardiologist Dr Lance Forbat, whose work using telehealth monitoring Telecare Aware has reported a number of times, responds to the recent headline on the Mayo Clinic study that telehealth monitoring appeared to treble death rates and points out that in comparing monitoring people at home with and without telehealth monitoring they were not comparing like-for-like.

If I do a twice daily ward round on my patients and look at the physiological signs recorded by the nurse and take a history, possibly pick up on unnoticed issues that my years of experience detect, I would like to think I make an impact on the outcome of patients' illnesses as well as their sense of well being...

Editor Steve Hards asks if it is time for a reconsideration of the role of the Telecare Services Association (TSA).

With yesterday's news of the draft EU Telehealth Code of Practice (including telecare) some of the TSA's members are wondering why it is about to spend up to £25,000 of their money developing one of its own to extend its existing Telecare Code of Practice.

But there is a deeper question that they and the TSA Board members should be considering...

Editor Donna muses on the link in the telecare chain where it can all fall down - the person who is expected to use the device.

"If you build it, they will come"--misattributed to the film Field of Dreams, 1989

We can get telehealth and mhealth into the home care or healthcare provider, payer, 'app store' or 'ecosystem' (the 'push'), but you cannot force the client or patient to use it.

The buzz may be about how slick a system or app is, how to sell it to the C-suite or even the Four Big Questions, but have we forgotten someone? We assume that end users/clients/patients will be delighted to use our wonderful devices, in the way they should be used--consistently, correctly, continuously until they... expire. Step back and think about human behavior, however, and you realize...that cannot be true.

After my (editor Steve's) comment about 'fairy dust' (3millionlives: Plan B and Plan C) certain Telecare Aware readers asked where is my Plan D? It is not fully formed, but here's the outline.

The key is to get the Department of Health (DH) to exert some monetary influence.

However, we know that in view of the savings the public sector is going to have to make over the next 5 years (£20 billion for the NHS alone) DH is not going to come up with any new funding…[read more]

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...

If 'ignorance of the law is no excuse' telehealth commissioners and providers have a responsibility to make sure that in matters of medical devices all regulations - many of them legal requirements - are being adhered to. Failure to do so on one side or the other implies a willingness to be complicit in their breaking and it unfairly tilts the market against those companies that abide by the rules.

This Soapbox item is timely given that there is due to be a big push for telehealth in the UK on the back of the WSD programme results. It is written by an experienced professional in the telehealth field who, because of his or her position cannot reveal his or her identity. It will also become obvious to readers why he or she cannot name the 'guilty parties'. However, there are questions at the end which service commissioners should now use to identify whether they are dealing with a company that is breaking the regulations.

There is now no excuse for either the companies involved not to correct the situation or for commissioners to continue to put their investment of public money at risk.

Steve Hards, Editor

Readers who prefer to read this long item as a PDF can download it here.

While the world holds its breath waiting for the imminent final revelation of the Department of Health's Whole System Demonstrators (WSD) results, the global mass of telecare and telehealth manufacturers, distributors, resellers and newcomers are revving up their trucks full of boxes and briefing their marketing departments - all believing that a 'tsunami of sales' are just around the corner!

Storm brewing...

Editor Steve asks why we still see tendering fiascos when so much experienced support is available.

The UK has a long history of both legislation and experience in relation to the procurement of publicly funded services. There is a veritable industry of advisers, consultants and lawyers who can be consulted on how to manage the process to stay legal and to get an effective result. Why then do we still see some tendering fiascos?

For example, there was…