First it was two cohort studies of the same project, then two reviews of reviews, and now two new organisations have recently emerged in the telemonitoring world.
So, to that word. London Telecare has just announced it is planning to change it’s name to UK Telehealthcare and go nationwide. No ®, no ™: true independence. This follows on from the recent emergence of the national Telehealth Forum.
What London Telecare has done so well has been to promote telecare to users and their carers, and organise local meetings & supplier events in the South East. So here’s hoping that by going nationwide they can help with the much-needed promotion of telemonitoring that to date has eluded those who have tried, as shown by the recent Invicta Telecare survey.
So what of the TSA? According to a board member of London Telecare, without an accreditation vehicle and national conference, UK Telehealthcare sees itself as a complement to the TSA, so no worries there then. (Which reminds: TTA will be reviewing the European Code of Practice for Telehealth Services as soon as it is published on the TeleSCoPE site, expected in about a week.)
Doug Miles and I have received many enquiries from around the country, asking when can we offer the same services that London Telecare members have enjoyed over the years. So really we are simply answering a demand from telehealth and telecare professionals across the UK. But also, being a national organisation allows us to create more public awareness of the benefits of these services across the whole country. Who else is doing this right now? Not the government, and certainly not individual manufacturers. The stakes are simply too high for TV or other mainstream media exposure. Our poster campaigns can now go national depending on availability, and we can build on the £2m of free space that organisations like ClearChannel have generously donated in the past. We can only grow as our membership grows, and continue to give good value for a responsive and inclusive service. If it makes sense, we’ll “Just Do It” as someone once said!