Telecare team to evaluate innovation in first mainstream trial

Professor James Barlow and Dr Jane Hendy have received a £350,000 research grant from the Department of Health to investigate the sustainability of government initiatives to introduce ‘telecare’.

31 March, 2008

By Elliott White

Telecare includes the use of sensors and other devices to monitor vital signs remotely. It  has been heralded as a way of improving the independence of people with long term chronic diseases, and at the same time helping to improve the use of scarce healthcare resources by freeing up beds in hospitals.

Professor Barlow said: “Telecare is now embedded in government health and social care policy but it has yet to be embedded in mainstream services. There is a great deal of expertise in the UK in the development of telecare products and the challenges in introducing them. The task now is to translate this into practical lessons that can help its widespread adoption and diffusion.”

The research will focus on the roll out of telecare in the Department of Health’s Whole System Demonstrators (WSD) programme, which will see telecare services launched in three UK regions - Cornwall, Kent and Newham in East London. 

The WSD represents the single largest telecare investment in the country, introducing more patients to this type of service than has ever been attempted before. Over the next two years the Department of Health is funding a consortium of universities (led by University College London) to evaluate its clinical and cost effectiveness, and its impact on care services.

Professor Barlow said “We are pleased that the Department of Health has recognised the importance of not only evaluating the potential benefits of telecare, but also the need to carry out rigorous research on how lessons from the WSD programme can be used to support mainstream telecare implementation.”

Professor Barlow and Dr Hendy have many years’ experience researching and advising on telecare implementation, including the deployment of the government’s Preventative Technology Grant, a forerunner of the WSD programme.  Findings from this research will be coming out in the summer and will provide an insight into the problems faced by local social and health authorities in introducing complex technological and service innovations.

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