Telehealth - BMJ evaluation of large trial

'Does telemedicine deserve the green light?' is a paper recently published in the British Medical Journal by Jonathan Gornall.  The UK government is enthusiastically promoting telehealth as a way to cut costs and improve care, but the evidence emerging from a large NHS trial seems much more equivocal.  The UK government’s three and a half year, £30m evaluation of telehealth and telecare recruited people with diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , and heart failure from 179 general practices in England and encouraged them to measure such things as their blood pressure, lung function, and blood glucose and asked them to respond to symptom questions and educational messages.  Questions are raised by Gornall as to whether the program is going to be as useful as anticipated.

Also see the editorial, Telehealth : only part of the solution (BMJ 2012; 345 doi: 10.1136/ bmj.e4724)  

BMJ 2012; 345 doi: 10.1136/bmj.e4622 (Published 10 July 2012).  Full text available via CIAP, or ask your librarian.