Jenny Stewart: Technology will improve the nation’s health

Telehealth combines new methods of patient care with technology in the home to help patients manage long-term conditions. It is part of a wider e-Health agenda aimed at harnessing information technology to improve health and deliver services more efficiently.

E-Health could revolutionise the way care is delivered. But many large-scale initiatives have collapsed under their own complexity.

So what needs to be done? A recent report from KPMG, Accelerating innovation – Global lessons in eHealth implementation, looked across 15 countries to identify why certain eHealth programmes were successful and why others failed.

The research, undertaken with Manchester Business School, identifies some key themes for success: large numbers of users drive sustainability and innovation – as in social networking or the human genome project; all parts of the health system must pull together; and all involved need to embrace new ways of working and ditch some of the old.

Implementation needs three obvious things, but surprisingly these are often not managed together.

These are a clear strategy; a strong focus on areas which will deliver most benefits (eHealth programmes are too large and complex to do in one step); and health professionals and patients need to be in the lead – not top-down change.

The report highlights a UK case study with very encouraging results – the Whole System Demonstrator programme, which involved the largest telehealth trial ever held in Europe. The evidence shows a 20 per cent reduction in emergency admissions; a 15 per cent reduction in A&E visits and even a 45 per cent reduction in death rates.

This event is important in allowing the NHS to share key lessons, capitalise on Scotland’s leading telehealth strategy and improve services for the estimated one million Scots living with a long-term condition.

• Jenny Stewart is head of public sector at KPMG in Scotland.