SCT Joins NHS24...
As a consequence of the recent review of the Scottish Centre for Telehealth undertaken by the Scottish Government Health Department, continued support for the work of the Scottish Centre for Telehealth was affirmed. The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing also confirmed the recommendations of the review, including (the recommendation) that the organisational responsibility for the Scottish Centre for Telehealth (SCT) should move from NHS Grampian to NHS24 on 1st April 2010. In a statement to confirm the new developments the Cabinet Secretary stated that
"New technology offers some incredibly exciting possibilities for giving people better access to healthcare in the 21st century. The Scottish Centre for Telehealth has already been helping individual NHS boards devise ways of using technology to reach out to patients in our more isolated areas and those with mobility issues. But by integrating it within NHS 24, we can ensure that use of telehealth is spread right across Scotland and benefits patients in all our communities."
The Chief Executive of NHS24, John Turner added
"NHS 24 and SCT are committed to leading the way in telehealth, to improving patient care and to providing a high quality service for people across Scotland. I look forward to working with our SCT colleagues to build on the successes achieved so far."
The necessary organisational and governance changes are now well underway and we anticipate a smooth transition will take place.
Regarding the work of the SCT, a number of important recommendations about the future of the Scottish Centre for Telehealth were made these include: a clear focus on the work already underway to establish nationally deliverable telehealth services. The review highlighted, in particular, the work in support of the Scottish Telestroke Network and the workstream on national paediatric telehealth services. These work streams are led for the SCT by Anne Duthie and Hazel Archer.
The SCT will continue to support the implementation and emergence of new telehealth applications in NHS Scotland (which are) in line with NHS priorities. The expertise of the diverse team (at the SCT) will provide this support by disseminating knowledge, furthering evidence of what works best in telehealth and what does not. It will also continue offering experience to support the implementation of sustainable telehealth applications which deliver on benefits to patients and the wider health service.
In addition the SCT will continue and extend working with the Telecare Programme.
As part of the work of the SCT during 2008/9 a series of reviews into the
use of telehealth in discrete clinical areas were comissioned - these reviews
will be made available on the SCTs website in January 2010.
