Surrey telehealth – some good news!

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Surrey-County-council-Logo1.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /] The announcement by Medvivo and Surrey County Council of telehealth becoming fully embedded across all six CCGs in Surrey is good news for those who believe in the benefits of telehealth.

Pulse was one of the first to carry the news today, though was  unable to resist the temptation to remind readers of the high cost/QALY found by the Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) programme (which was caused, as Telecareaware readers will know from a previous post, by the high cost of running the WSD RCTs and using equipment that is now some six years old).  The more positive EHI post is here.

Over the past year there has been much concern about whether telehealth arrangements established by the previous PCTs might be taken forward by the CCGs; Surrey shows it can be done successfully.

(Disclosure: Charles Lowe established and ran the telehealth programme in Surrey for NHS Surrey and Surrey County Council between 2011 and 2013, including managing the tender process.  He did not however adjudicate the tender – some 40 representatives of organisations in the county participated in the adjudication.)