Telehealth Pilot Sees 75% Reduction in Hospital Admissions

Wednesday, 20 January 2010

Blackpool Council’s Vitaline and NHS Blackpool have reported on the success of the use of telehealth home monitoring to support people with long-term conditions to enable them to live independently at home.

Telehealth led to a 75% reduction in hospital admissions for the COPD & Heart Disease patients on the 12-month pilot, as well as an 85% reduction in GP visits and a 43% reduction in home visits by community matrons during the pilot, alleviating pressure on care providers and ensuring resources can be deployed effectively where needed most.

It is predicted that by 2010, 52% of Blackpool’s over-65 population will have a limiting long-term condition. To address this issue, monitoring centre Blackpool Vitaline and NHS Blackpool launched a telehealth pilot with telehealth technology from Tunstall Healthcare to remotely monitor the vital signs of 13 patients who are under the case management of community matrons.

In addition to the cost and efficiency gains delivered to the NHS, telehealth has increased patients’ understanding and knowledge of their conditions, reducing anxiety and increasing quality of life.

A detailed survey of patients showed 80% of respondents strongly agreed that they had a better understanding of their medical conditions and felt they were contributing to the management of their condition while 70% strongly believed their quality of life had improved.

Click this link to read more about this telehealth project