Telehealth

John Cruickshank

This 2020health White Paper builds on our recent report “HealthCare without Walls: A Framework for delivering telehealth at scale” to explore lessons learnt at the world’s largest user of telehealth services: the US Veterans Health Administration (VHA). This short paper explores what the NHS and the US VHA could learn from one another in their implementation and development of telehealth, and to highlight the essentials for success.

Impact:

• Report gained the support and responses from Rt Hon Stephen Dorrell MP, Chair of the Health Select Committee, Mark Garnier MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Telehealth, Baroness Greengross, Chief Executive, International Longevity Centre UK.
• Report was personally presented to both Health Minsters Lord Howe and Paul Burstow MP.
• The report led to the commissioning of the in-depth publication ‘Making connections’ by the Department of Health.

“The greatest challenge facing the NHS is how to deliver better outcomes to the rising population who live with long term conditions, while health spending remains curtailed. I welcome this report because it describes a significant way in which efficiency savings can be made while improving quality of care through much smarter use of telehealth technology, based on the experience of the VHA. As the Programme gets underway to improve the lives of 3 million people with long term conditions through telehealth-enabled services, the NHS would do well to study these lessons and adopt best practices.“

Rt Hon Stephen Dorrell MP, Chair of the Health Select Committee

“I welcome this late report from 2020health which once again underlines the great potential of telehealth technology. The experience of the Veterans Agency, which in terms of its structure bears many similarities with the NHS, highlights the benefits that the NHS could realise if telehealth technology is rolled out nationwide. The Telehealth All Party Parliamentary Group will continue to raise this subject with Ministers and others to ensure that patients have the opportunity to benefit from telehealth technology across the country.“

Mark Garnier MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Telehealth

“I welcome the 2020health report’s highlighting of the key role of telehealth in ill-health prevention and self-management, the provision of improved outcomes and independence for service users, and efficiency savings for the taxpayer. The ten point plan they propose makes perfect sense, in that as part of an overall redesign of care, telehealth represents a vital element in the shift towards more preventive care, reducing the imbalance between hospital and primary care spend and making better use of scarce clinical resources.”

Baroness Greengross, Chief Executive, International Longevity Centre UK