Telehealth revolution in tatters after snub by doctors

THE future of a trailblazing £3m initiative to bring hi-tech telehealth to thousands of sick patients in Yorkshire is in jeopardy less than three years after its controversial launch.

GPs in North Yorkshire have been reluctant to take up the state-of-the-art technology which monitors patients’ vital signs at home, with latest figures showing fewer than 650 devices are being used out of 2,000 purchased by NHS chiefs in 2010.

A contract to run the service ends in March but a deal over its future has yet to be agreed amid signs family doctors, who shortly take on responsibility for health service funding, are unwilling to cover its costs of up to £1.7m a year in a county where the NHS is gripped by a dire financial crisis.

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The project’s failure would prove a major embarrassment only two months after the North Yorkshire and Humber area was named by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt as one of seven to deliver a massive expansion in telehealth to make England a world leader in the field. Under his vision, 100,000 patients with long-term conditions in the seven areas, also including South Yorkshire, will benefit from the technology in 2013.

Health chiefs in North Yorkshire have already faced accusations that millions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash has been wasted on the project, with around two thirds of devices lying unused, and calculations suggesting annual costs outweigh estimated savings mainly from fewer hospital admissions.

Coun Jim Clark, chairman of North Yorkshire County Council’s health scrutiny committee, said there was a “totally disjointed” local and national approach to telehealth and called for external funding to finance it.

“I think it is one of the ways forward for delivering healthcare in a large rural area like North Yorkshire but the financing situation needs to be sorted out. We have got to look at how we take it forward,” he said.

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Boroughbridge GP John Crompton, chairman of the North Yorkshire Local Medical Committee, which represents family doctors, said: “GPs have never really been convinced of the benefits of it and it’s never really got off the ground.

“It has been adopted in pockets around the county but it’s not lived up to the initial hype. There should have been a lot more consultation and consideration of the evidence before the primary care trust committed to it.”

Latest figures show only 645 people with conditions including heart failure and diabetes are using telehealth – down from 674 three months ago. Just 17 patients in the Scarborough and Ryedale area are involved, rising to 368 in the Vale of York.

In a vote in November, GP practices in the Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby area agreed unanimously to abandon the project, with only one of the four main GP-led clinical commissioning groups in the county believed to be backing it. Four practices in a fifth, smaller group in Craven, where 104 patients are using the technology, say they plan to continue with it.

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NHS North Yorkshire and York assistant director of strategy Kerry Wheeler said 1,200 patients had benefited from telehealth since the project’s launch by helping them better manage their conditions and medication.

She added: “There are ongoing discussions with all of the clinical commissioning groups across North Yorkshire and York about the management of patients on telehealth from April 1 when they take on health commissioning responsibilities.”

Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said it would continue using telehealth from April.

“We are committed to offering continued support to the tele-health service which supports many Craven patients to manage their health conditions better,” said a spokeswoman.

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Simon Arnold, managing director at Selby-based Tunstall Healthcare which services the contract in North Yorkshire, said the deployment was among the biggest in the UK and the county had been chosen as one of the Department of Health pathfinder sites in its 3 Million Lives programme to extend telehealth.

Discussions were continuing with each CCG over use of the approach from April. “We believe the overall business case for large-scale telehealth delivery is positive and compelling,” he added.

An NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB) spokesman said it was aware of plans by CCGs to review their telehealth strategy.

He said: “The NHS CB has no plans to fund this project in North Yorkshire. However, it is committed to working with the CCGs and local stakeholders in order to make assistive technologies available to patients in North Yorkshire.”