the Minister Paul Burstow’s keynote speech. The speech was full of the usual warm stuff about how significant telecare and telehealth is, so that was not the reason for its significance.
It was because he gave an outrageous plug to one company – Tunstall. This endorsement was highly inappropriate in a Ministerial speech, particularly as it was not just confined to the hall but was being streamed to viewers around the world.
The other suppliers in the hall, particularly the principal sponsors, must have been very cross once they were over the shock. It was probably also more ‘evidence’ for the conspiracy theorists [I’m not one of them: Editor Steve] who believe that it is Tunstall, and not the Minister, directing the UK Government’s policy on telecare and telehealth.
The ultimate twist to this gaffe is that, just a few minutes before, the Minister had been criticising services that stockpile kit. It is not a secret (apart from to the speech writer, perhaps) that stockpiling kit is a characteristic of a number of Tunstall’s large-purchase customers!
To his credit, the Minister risked taking questions from the floor. I asked about the contrast between his support for the 3millionlives initiative and his lack of support for the use of telehealth with prisoners [TA item, scroll to bottom]. His reply, in relation to prisoners, was “Ministerial edict is not the best way to make sure something happens”…so why is he pronouncing on 3millionlives? The words ‘cake’, ‘have’ and ‘eat’ come to mind.
Other than that, there were some interesting presentation topics during the rest of the day and I will follow them up in future items.
UPDATE 8 March 8am: Full text of the Minister’s speech here. Heads-up thanks to Mike Clark.
UPDATE 8 March 10:30 am. Tunstall milks it: Press release. Paul Burstow MP advocates NHS Gloucestershire and Tunstall’s work…
Should we be encouraging folk to eat cake in this health conscious age when we are being encouraged to want to take responsibility for our own health and well being?
Porridge is generally considered a healthier option is it not?
Banter aside there were certainly some interesting presentations during the day and the virtual facility is pretty good with only a few minor glitches (the virtual drinks reception left a little to be desired) … look forward to some coverage and discussion of some of those presentations in the future.
I feel sorry for all of those people that paid a handsome penny to attend when the virtual attendance was not only free but had pretty much uninterrupted viewing. Congratulations to the AV company.
There were highlights to the day, too (not just significant events) which the above reflections probably should have mentioned.
One was the person – a wheelchair user with a heart condition and Parkinson’s – who gave the Congress a description of what life had been like before and after being monitored with a telehealth device. Before, he had spent 8-10 months a year in hospital. After, it was only a few weeks a year. He was very impressive and I apologise that I didn’t note his name.
@Steve – The gentleman’s name was Haris Patel; he was a patient in Kent. You are right though, impressive advocate for his own wellbeing and the services he has benefited from. See YouTube video of him: http://youtu.be/Q8qlQ72odsM
@Mike – I agree about the Virtual coverage – although the fire evacuation was quite a strange experience in a virtual world. Pleased to know it wasn’t the real thing and everyone was fine.