Telehealth is the delivery of health-related services and information via telecommunications technologies. This can be as simple as a doctor contacting a patient by email or even a patient monitoring his or her own health from home. Information gathered by the patient would then be transmitted, via a Telehealth server, to the local surgery where doctors can access it.
The benefits include greater independence for patients, more rapid responses by GPs and greater access to people living in remote communities. The system could also bring large savings to the NHS by reducing the number of hospital admissions, home visits by the GP and the number of appointments at the GP surgery.
Although Mark is now stepping down as chairman of the APPG he continues to play an active role as vice chair. He believes that telehealth “will be one of the defining factors of health in the 21st century”.
