UK Unveils Long-term Telehealth Campaign

The UK Department of Health has undertaken a campaign to expand the use of mobile medical devices and services to cover three million patients over the next five years.

Launched in collaboration with the National Health Service, industry and professional partners, the campaign entails deploying mobile medical devices to three million patients through 2016. The campaign’s work plan remains in early stages of development, however, according to E-Health Insider.

Because the capital investments required for establishing telehealth systems can be prohibitively high, according to the NHS, the Department of Health will consult industry to identify ways to address cost issues.

The campaign follows an effort the Department of Health began in 2008 to assess how telehealth would impact the NHS and British social care services; that assessment concluded that proper implementation of telehealth systems could result in 15% fewer A&E visits, 20% fewer emergency admissions, 14% fewer routine or elective health care visits and 14% fewer inpatient hospital stays.

If those predictions hold up, the case for governmental involvement in driving adoption of mobile medical devices becomes compelling.