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Vodafone launches signal booster
Friday, 03 July 2009 08:00
If your reaction to 'Vodafone launches signal booster' is "So what?", then read this pointer to the future item and think about how telecare and telehealth systems are currently set up in people's homes.
"Advocate E-Health not for your sake, but your children's. They will inherit the problems of today" (Senator Edgardo Angara in the conference keynote speech.). Good to see the pace of developments picking up in the Philippines. Press report.
A team of University of Houston researchers "hopes to ease worries and frustrations by designing an affordable in-home health-monitoring system that will notify caregivers, via smartphones or PDAs, if their loved ones need attention." So the existing technologies are not affordable? They are also talking about using the system in hospitals. Actually, the principals they are appyling have some merit, but will they be able to deliver? Read the press release and see what you think.
Oh dear! Oh dear! It looks as if, as relative newcomers to the field, Intel and GE have allowed themselves to be talked into investing in a 'telemed/telecare house' project... the kind beloved of academics but which numerous previous projects have shown there is no market appetite for, nor likely to be when it's nutcrackers, not sledgehammers, that are needed. E-Health Europe brings you the story.
GE Healthcare to grow its health information exchange services by joining global eHealth leader
Friday, 03 July 2009 07:17
GE Healthcare to Grow its Health Information Exchange Services by Joining Global eHealth Leader. Hmm...this could be relevant to remote patient monitoring...but if I were running a class on how to hide a potentially interesting story behind a wall of jargon (Six Steps to Telecare Press Release Happiness* Part 2), I'd surely use this as one of the examples.
Last Friday, McElwaine Smart Technologies held the official launch of its Telecare Monitoring Centre in Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh. Although based in Northern Ireland, the service will serve the whole of Ireland and government ministers from both NI and Eire were present at the launch. Set up in association with Bosch, the new service is built on over 30 years experience in the electrical and security businesses.
Excellent video showing three examples of health delivery at a distance and its benefits to patients and staff. After watching, you may want to read an article about the telehealth facility at Craig, which gives some more information and a nursing perspective.
Flaws found in alarms system to replace warden scheme
Tuesday, 30 June 2009 09:38
A new twist in the London Borough of Barnet story where it appears that its telecare service is expected to pick up a role it was not designed for. Local news item.
In a blog, an anonymous British social worker responds to the Guardian article on the lack of take up of telecare in the UK (see 'UK's social care plans are likely to back telecare') and reflects on community alarms and telecare. It's a viewpoint that we do not often get spontaneously, so it is worth a read.
And yes, there is, as the author says, "probably lots of other types of equipment that I haven’t even begun to explore." He or she works in an 'older peoples team' and rates the employing authority as good on telecare. Which makes you worry even more about authorities that are not so good.
Telehealth Solutions has launched the CardioPod, a system to facilitate the new NHS Health Check. The CardioPod will be installed in pharmacies and GP surgeries across England, allowing patients easy access to an NHS Health Check carried out by a trained professional, who will give expert advice on their cardiovascular risk score and what action they can take to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, type II diabetes and kidney disease. Press release with photos. Telehealth Solutions website.
Orange continues to put down markers in the European telehealth territory (search Telecare Aware for 'Orange' for other examples) with an announcement of a trial with charity Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund Österreich (Workers Samaritan Federation Austria). Item from E-Health Europe.
UK's social care plans are likely to back telecare
Tuesday, 30 June 2009 08:40
"The government's long-awaited social care plans are likely to back telecare. So why isn't it being taken up more widely?" is the question posed in a Hinchcliffe-Tunstall inspired article in the Guardian. Fortunately, the author, David Brindle, is an experienced enough journalist to take a relatively objective view of the UK scene and has produced a worthwhile article.
Continua: Enough pilots, let’s move to deployments
Tuesday, 30 June 2009 08:30
Chuck Parker, Executive Director of Continua Health Alliance, reported in mobihealthnews, told attendees at the Healthcare Unbound conference in Seattle that remote patient monitoring doesn’t need to do anymore trials or pilots. It's a good sentiment, but it flies in the face of experience because healthcare organisations are inherently conservative and suffer from 'not invented here' syndrome. (Besides, everyone in the UK will know who he has been talking to, as this was Tunstall's refrain regarding telecare back in 2004, if not before.)
Telecare Services Association appoints Telehealth Development Manager
Wednesday, 24 June 2009 07:00
The Telecare Services Association (TSA) has appointed Jane Turner as its first Telehealth Development Manager. That is, someone to be the focus of developing the telehealth side of the TSA. Her job will be to work with the TSA's Telehealth Management Board to develop and implement a telehealth strategy and to promote telehealth to TSA members, the majority of which are telecare call centre organisations.
Social networking combined with health data tracking
Wednesday, 24 June 2009 06:50
5 minuites. UTS Health
The following website is an interesting concept that points to a possible future for user-controlled health information.
Set up by UTS Health, a subsidiary of software company Indigo Byte Systems (UTS = Universal Tracking System), the site is a combination of user networking/health information sharing/mutual support and health information provided by the company, and a place to track your health monitoring data (privately, if you wish). The best way to grasp it before visiting the UTS website is to view their introductory video:
The first of these two good news stories comes from Essex, England, briefly covers the case of a lady whose life was saved by a telecare smoke detector connected to the local Careline service. The second is a longer piece about an 89-year-old lady from Arkansas whose life was saved because she was wearing her pendant alarm.
What is interesting about the The opportunities and risks of telehealth in the NHS article from Computing is the comparison the author makes with the way that the introduction of ATM technology has changed the relationship between customers and banks.
‘Telemedicine’ house helps older people stay safe and independent
Wednesday, 24 June 2009 06:20
OK-ish article from the TimesOnline, but a bit confused by the telehealth/telemedicine/telecare terminology (not that you can really blame the journalist - see Telecare Aware's Terminology Campaign). What will really irk people from the Independent Living Group (Quitetcare) and the ex-WebVMC people is the passing reference to "The system, developed by GE Healthcare and Intel..." 'Telemedicine' house helps older people stay safe and independent.
This Cambridge Wireless conference must have been brilliant for its attendees and I'm sure the conference report is stuffed full of goodies, but I was put off browsing through it by the un-reader-friendly nature of its online production. Judge for yourself. If you do find those goodies, please point them out to other readers by leaving a comment. (The conference was 30th April and 1st May 2009, or so Google tells me - the report seems to be undated.)
A North Texas family is suing ADT because their father's wrist-worn 'panic button' system failed and was not replaced immediately. They allege that as a result he was unable to summon help as he lay dying. Story from WFAA.com.
