Rather to many people’s surprise the popular Daily Express newspaper featured a telehealth story on its front page on Wednesday. It appears to be an extension of the UK’s media’s current interest in the woes of hospital emergency departments and the simplistic ‘blame the GPs’ theme that has been fuelled by recent comments from the Secretary of State for Health. However, the article is positive about telehealth blood pressure monitoring: DIY test will save your life: gadget sends blood pressure results direct to your GP (online version). Interestingly, the article contains no reference to the 3ML initiative. One wag Tweeted “Oh no! I’m rubbish at DIY. I’ll surely fail the test”. Here’s a link to a picture of the front page so that readers can gauge the weight that the item received.
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The Express runs several front page health stories a week, most of them as flimsy as this one. As far as I know, the only evidence for telehealth saving lives is for patients with chronic heart failure.