The UK’s eHealth revolution

Ten years ago, the term ‘eHealth’ was relatively unknown, but now academics, scientists and the medical profession use the name as shorthand for the technology that is revolutionising modern healthcare.

Yet, because of its scope, eHealth remains hard to define. One expert explained it as “health services and information delivered or enhanced through the internet and related technologies”, although this does not begin to describe the range of devices and services it encompasses.

“It is a vast subject,” says Dr Richard Curry, an independent telecare consultant and founder of the Telecare Knowledge Network, working with a number of British companies. “It could refer to something as simple as the keeping of patient records electronically, or the transmission of information – such as path lab results or radiographs – between GPs and consultants, or between one hospital and another.”

The NHS and eHealth

NHS Direct is probably Britain’s best-known eHealth service, providing 24-hour access to health information and advice through multiple channels. Its website, NHS Direct Online, receives 21 million visitors every year and its telephone service receives eight million calls every year. Telehealth is another growth area, allowing patients and clinicians to be connected remotely via, for example, video conferencing equipment.

eHealth […] includes the research, development and use of electronic devices which deliver healthcare to the home more efficiently

Dr Richard Curry

Consultant

Telecare Knowledge Network

“But,” says Dr Curry, “eHealth also includes the research, development and use of electronic devices which deliver healthcare to the home more efficiently, thus supporting people with chronic conditions and allowing them to live independent lives.”

Dr Curry cites the example of Vivatec, a Berkshire-based company that has introduced a number of eHealth products, including a wrist watch device which, because it can be worn continuously, has overcome some of the problems of the fall detector.

Healthcare and technology in partnership

Says Dr Curry: “Adding GSM technology to this device has created location sensing and tracking capability. Evermore ingenious sensors are being developed – some for very special purposes – by Bath Institute of Medical Engineering.” BIME’s Wander Reminder, for instance, is a system to encourage time orientation for people with dementia through the use of verbal messages. Other leading UK companies producing innovative eHealth solutions include Warwickshire-based Just Checking and Surrey-based Docobo.

The Tunstall Group – established in Britain 51 years ago - is a Yorkshire-based market-leader in the eHealth industry, and its solutions support over 2.5 million people worldwide. In April 2008, Tunstall unveiled Lifeline Connect+, a device which monitors a person’s movements during the night. If they fail to return to their bed within an agreed time period, the Lifeline Connect+ can intelligently combine data from other sensors in the property to ascertain if that person is carrying out another activity (such as watching the TV or boiling the kettle) or if assistance or intervention is required.

Cost savings

The UK’s eHealth sector is also reducing financial wastage. For instance, on average, 15% of all patients in the UK miss their GP or clinical appointments. Estimates on how much this costs the National Health Service vary - but some put it as high at £400million annually.

The concept of using internet technologies to improve and support healthcare seems obvious

Tobias Alpsten

Founder and Managing Director

iPLATO

With this in mind, London-based iPLATO has developed a Patient Care Messaging system which sends automated text and voice messages to patients' mobile phones, reminding them of GP appointments which can then be confirmed, rescheduled or cancelled.

Patient Care Messaging also works in a ‘preventative’ way by sending text messages to individuals or groups of patients for medication reminders, flu-jab registrations and health advice. Research indicates that the response rate from these text messages is far higher than letter, phone call, hand-outs and posters.

Everyday uses

Says Tobias Alpsten, founder and Managing Director of iPLATO: “Our technology can run searches through patient data to pinpoint people - such as smokers, for example - who might be at risk of certain healthcare problems. It is then possible to crunch ‘risk algothrims’ and use personal text messages to engage with these individuals. It’s a massive undertaking – and, at present, it’s not being done anywhere else in the world.” Currently, iPLATO is reaching three million patients in 15 Primary Care Trusts, including dozens of GPs’ surgeries and hospitals.

The signs for a successful UK eHealth sector were always promising says Alpsten. “The concept of using internet technologies to improve and support healthcare seems obvious,” he says. “After all, we already use this technology in our everyday lives. We have internet banking, we book our train or theatre tickets online, and we use webcams – so it was always inevitable that the eHealth sector would emerge and, when it did, unleash vast potential.”