August 2001
INTRODUCTION
At the presentation to the House of Commons Select Committee for Health earlier this year, we highlighted that one of the barriers to the effective roll-out of Telemedicine was the low level of support and understanding by the Government. It appears that both industry and Government are addressing this issue. I was honoured to be invited to the official opening of the ‘Community Telemedicine Service’ in Ferryhill, Sedgefield recently. This project, formed through a partnership of Sedgefield Borough Council and Tunstall, provides Telemedicine monitoring in a sheltered home complex. The Prime Minister, who showed a great interest and understanding of the wider implications of Telemedicine and its benefits for the NHS, opened the facility. Tony Blair congratulated the project on being a fine and effective example of Private / Public partnerships in care provision. Congratulations to Tunstall for achieving such a high profile event.
The preparations for our annual conference (11-13 June 2002) continue at a great pace and here too we are seeing a high level of Political support. The list of Keynote speakers is very impressive and we hope to be in a position to publish these soon. Many of our members have shown early interest in taking advantage of exhibition stands and other benefits on offer. In addition to the stand space, we are making available individual rooms (for hospitality / demonstrations) and speaking slots, as well as various sponsorship opportunities. If you are interested in any of these facilities please feel free to contact me at the earliest opportunity.
We look forward to meeting many of you at the next members meeting on the 28th September at the BT innovation Centre at Adastral Park.
David Greenaway, Chief Executive UKTA, Tel: 0771 878 1191 david.greenaway1@btinternet.com
We are pleased to welcome the following new members to the Association:
North Bradford Primary Care Trust
The Royal Group of Hospital Belfast
Stockport NHS Trust
Smart Sensor Telemed Ltd
Robert Shaw
MEMBERS NEWS
Motion Media have moved. They are now located at the Motion Media Technology Centre, Severn Bridge, Aust, Bristol, BS35 4BL Tel: +44 (0) 1454 635400 Fax; +44 (0) 1454 635041 email: info@motion-media.com www.motion-media.com
The Centre for Law Ethics and Risk in Telemedicine has produced an up-to-date report to answer the growing demand for a reference source on the legal and ethical problems facing users and providers of e-health and telemedicine systems. The report "Legal, Ethical and Social Aspects of E-Health and Telemedicine" will be updated quarterly to take account of new legislative and regulatory events. Anyone interested in purchasing a copy will be sent a full list of the contents and executive summary by return of e-mail publications@clert.com.
According to researchers at Sheffield University who have evaluated the nurse-led system, NHS Direct has a low rate of adverse incidents and is as safe as other access routes to the healthcare system. The research suggests that strong clinical governance, vigorous clinical audit, routine monitoring of activity and accessibility indicators and a diverse programme of evaluation need to be in place to ensure that users' trust is maintained and the service develops to its full potential. http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/R-Z/scharr/mcru/reports/nhsd3.pdf
GlaxoSmithKline has launched a new interactive website Right Time to support UK patients taking its smoking cessation product Zyban (bupropian). The site will offer Zyban users 24-hour support during key stages in their attempt at smoking cessation. The site has been developed in consultation with the anti-smoking charity QUIT and been approved by the Medicines Control Agency. www.right-time.co.uk
UK NEWS
CarePlus is an information and communication telecare initiative for users and providers of health and social care. It is run from the University of Sheffield School of Nursing and Midwifery. The aim of the project is to develop a service, initially via the world wide web and ultimately also by digital TV, that will help carers and older people by providing useful, well organised and managed information about health and social care. http://www.nhsia.nhs.uk/def/pages/features/f_300701.asp http://nww.nhsia.nhs.uk/def/pages/features/f_300701.asp (NHSnet version)
Boots The Chemist is launching a nationwide e-mail campaign
promoting its UK dental chain, Dentalcare. The move follows an initial test
which targeted 105,000 people, all of whom live within a 30-minute drive of
each of the new centres. Each of the e-mails will be individualised and allow
recipients to
register immediately. Source: New Media Age, 10 August 2001
The NHS Information Authority's (NHSIA) Electronic Record Development
and Implementation Programme (ERDIP) has created a new electronic records
technical advisory group (ERTAG) to help promote electronic patient records
by encouraging a common set of solutions and endorsing available standards
and methods. A document setting out the role and work programme of ERTAG is
available on the NHSIA website http://www.nhsia.nhs.uk/erdip/.
The NHS Information Authority (NHSIA) and SNOMED International, a division of the College of American Pathologists (CAP), have begun alpha testing of SNOMED clinical terms. They aim to develop the next generation of clinical terminology, combining the expertise of SNOMED and the NHS Clinical Terms version 3 (Read Codes) to create the most comprehensive clinical terminology available worldwide. http://www.medexonline.com/news/item.cfm?ID=1048&source=Medexonline
A new scheme to integrate GPs' out-of-hours calls with NHS Direct, the government's 24-hour health helpline, will cover 9.5 million people in the UK. The scheme, which will run in 34 areas will mean that patients use the NHS Direct number as their first point of contact for out-of-hours calls. The schemes will run from November 2001 to May 2002. Source: Medoxonline 26 July 200
"The Future of the Primary Care Salesforce", an in-depth study of the attitudes of GPs towards medical reps and e-detailing is about to be launched. The report presents the results of a dedicated online survey of 200 UK GPs conducted in June and July 2001. Further information, including a table of contents and sample data, is available at www.medemonitor.net, where it is also possible to order reports (please quote ref: MED03 on the order form).
The NHS R&D Health Technology Assessment Programme http://www.ncchta.org/ is inviting suggestions for HTA research (both primary research and systematic reviews). Suggestions can be made at any time through the new online suggestion form on the National Coordinating Centre's website http://www.ncchta.org/
Blood donors who normally only expect a cup of tea and a biscuit for their kindness may soon be able to sit back in a special chair and watch a movie, surf the net or answer e-mail. A leading provider of transfusion therapies has devised an e-chair to deliver electronic entertainment and work facilities. It is hoped the chair will encourage donors who are pressed for time, particularly those who volunteer for aphaeresis, a collection process that takes one to two hours. Source: Medexonline, 9 August 2001
A computer program, Cyberlink, which was designed originally to help military pilots control instruments using slight eye movements while paralysed by G-Force, is helping patients with severe brain injury. www.sunderland.ac.uk/caffairs/201jul5.htm
A robot has been used to operate on a patient with prostate cancer for the first time in a UK hospital. Surgeons at St Mary's Hospital, London, carried out the five hour operation using a Da Vinci robotic surgical system. The patient who received the pioneering surgery was discharged after only three days http://www.intusurg.com
OVERSEAS NEWS
A subcommittee of the US Senate Commerce Committee has begun hearings on the value of e-health technologies to empower consumers. The Science, Technology and Space sub-committee is exploring opportunities and obstacles regarding the use of Internet technology to empower patients, reduce medical errors and improve the quality of care delivered. http://www.senate.gov/~commerce/hearings/hearings.htm
A group of American community-based nurses say that using personal digital assistants cuts time spent on their "paperwork" by up to 50% and improves both the speed and accuracy of documentation. Source: Medoxonline August 2001
The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) has approved more than $7 million over 3 years to fund 5 biomedical projects at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, MD. The projects range from developing a space-worthy MRI system to creating a digital human. These projects will help the Institute study and solve health-related problems associated with long duration manned space flights. http://www.federaltelemedicine.com/n082001.htm
As part of his attempt to improve the quality of life for rural communities the U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), co-chair of the Senate Rural Health Caucus, has introduced a bill to strengthen rural healthcare. The bill continues and expands the rural health outreach program. The rural health care infrastructure will be developed through rural outreach grants and tele-home care. The tele-home care demonstration program will encourage development of cost-efficient, high quality care and will help ensure that people in rural areas have access to high quality health care.
Point and click software developed at Penn State for use with handheld computers is enhancing patient care by helping ambulance personnel collect data more efficiently and provide more information to hospital emergency departments. The software uses a small diagram of the human body on the handheld screen to speed up information entry concerning the type and location of a victim's injuries. Pointing and clicking on the figure where the patient is injured allows the software to record information automatically. The information can then be transferred to the Emergency Department right from the scene via wireless cellular modem. Barbara Hale:bah@psu.edu
The Department of Commerce's Healthcare Technologies Matchmaker Trade Delegation is going to Sao Paulo, Brazil and Santiago, Chile in October to find out about the growing healthcare markets in Latin America. Brazil is the largest medical device and equipment market in Latin America and is growing rapidly, especially in the private sector. Chile expects to spend over $500 million on health care this year and Chile has doubled their healthcare budget since 1990 william.kutson@mail.doc.gov
The University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine is using the e-StudioLive 7000 Web casting production system so that hospital rounds can be used by physicians-to-be to learn from real life cases wherever they are in residence across the state. The e-StudioLive system provides live interaction during distance learning between faculty members and hundreds of physicians and students. The system also archives the live Web casts, so busy health care professionals and students can view them on-line anytime their schedules permit. Source: VMW August 2001
The telemedicine directorate at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center is working on using low cost, desktop video teleconferencing (VTC) equipment efficiently and without compromising patient care to make the follow-up evaluations on hepatitis patients. Sean.Kennedy@amedd.army.mil
Much tighter control of diabetes may be possible in the near future through the use of wireless Internet devices capable providing continuous real-time glucose monitoring. www.kivalo.com/news_01_07_25.html
Market analysts Frost & Sullivan have released a report predicting the US telemedicine videoconferencing systems and services market, will grow to $275 million by 2007, from the $119 million in revenues generated in 2000, as an increasing number of healthcare providers adopt telemedicine applications. http://www.medexonline.com/news/item.cfm?ID=1024&source=medexonline
Austria's national health insurance system is to be modernised with the introduction of smart card technology. Eight million smart cards are to be issued to Austrian citizens with health insurance, and a further 12,000 smart cards for doctors, together with 12,000 desktop smart card terminals and 6,000 mobile terminals by 2003. Source: Medexonline, 13 August 2001
TRAINING
The UK's first degree in mobile computing is set to launch at Staffordshire University's department of computing. The four year course, which starts in September, will ground students in all aspects of the technologies used in wireless communication along with more general computing disciplines. Source: Pharmexonline, 26 July 2001.
The NHS National Nursing Leadership Project is launching a pilot programme of leadership development for nurses and therapists over the internet, which will start on 1st September 2001. These courses will include Leadership skills, Conflict resolution, Personal effectiveness, Dealing with stress, Problem-solving, Effective communication, Presentation skills, Budget management & Project management. These courses will be completely free and you can take them at home or at work over the internet. If you would like to take any of these courses, visit http://www.nursingleadership.co.uk/news.htm before 20 August 2001. The purpose of the pilot is to find out how useful the internet is in teaching leadership and management skills, so we would like to interview volunteers before and after the courses to find ways of improving or developing these courses
PUBLICATIONS
A new e-health report, "The eHealth Landscape: a Terrain Map of Emerging Information and Communication Technologies in Health and Health Care," has been published. This comprehensive report provides an overview of the status of eHealth and summarises the major players, issues, and emerging trends and technologies in the eHealth arena so that stakeholders can make informed decisions in this area. The report in PDF format is available in full at http://www.rwjf.org/app/rw_publications_and_links/publicationsPdfs/eHealth
The Reliability and Acceptability of Telemedicine for Patients with Schizophrenia
in Korea Chae, et al, Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, Volume 4, No 2,2000
Patient satisfaction with telemedicine in home health services in home health services for the elderly International Journal of Medical Informatics, Volume 61, Issues 2-3, 2001
USEFUL WEBSITES
Doctors.net.uk has launched a new online dermatology resource for general practitioners and other doctors with an interest in skin conditions. Content for the site, is non-product specific, and has been prepared and sourced by Doctors.net.uk's clinical and editorial team. http://www.medexonline.com/news/item.cfm?ID=1032&source=Medexonline
Doctors.net.uk, the UK general practitioner web portal, has launched what it claims to be the UK's largest free online continuing medical education (eCME) programme.http://www.pharmexonline.com/news/item.cfm?ID=1052&source=Medexonline
Doctors.net.uk, the UK general practitioner medical website has extended its range of member services by launching eFormulary. http://www.pharmexonline.com/news/item.cfm?ID=1060&source=Medexonline
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
*Denotes the first appearance of the date of conferences and meetings
UK Conferences
Overseas Conferences
CIRCULATIONS THIS MONTH
Wireless and handheld computing in healthcare report www.zesearch.com
Medinfo2001 – the informatics route to knowledge – towards global health. ExCel Congress Centre, London 2-5 September 2-5 2001. www.medinfo2001.org
4th European Health Forum Gastein "Integrating Health across
Policies"
26th - 29th September 2001. Bad Gastein, Salzburg, Austria. contact
info@ehfg.org
Conference: E-Business for Medical Devices 2001: Strategy, e-SCM and the future - the reality not the theory: Thursday 13th September 2001, Café Royal, London . Visit http://www.healthcare-info.co.uk/LX176/?source=medex for more information or contact Jo Amos: mailto:jo.amos@informa.com
Programme and booking form for members meeting at Adastral Park on 28 September 2001
AND FINALLY…….
The success of the newsletter depends very much on you! We want the newsletter to be a tool for you to raise awareness to other members of the work in which you are involved. This might be the development of new clinical services, telecare products or new initiatives.
If you would like to contribute to the next circulation please email with your information
Please forward this e-mail to other colleagues who may find it of interest.monica@denwales.freeserve.co.uk
Monica Dennis
Administrator
UK eHealth Association
Britannia House, 11 High Street, Cowbridge
Vale of Glamorgan CF71 7AD
Tel and fax: 01446 775189
Mobile: 07811 159800
Email: monica@denwales.freeserve.co.uk