AQW 52851/11-16

Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 13/01/2016
Answered On Date: 18/02/2016
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety what actions the Health and Social Care Trusts are taking to maximise the potential benefits of the TF3 Consortium telehealth services to patients with chronic conditions.

Answer:

The Health and Social Care Trusts are required to develop annual implementation plans setting out the areas of practice in which they are targeting telehealth interventions. Each Trust has a dedicated Telehealth Service Manager (TSM) who works with stakeholders to implement the plan, embed use of the service and identify new areas for service intervention.

All the Trusts undertake a range of stakeholder engagement activities to promote uptake of the telemonitoring service. Much of this effort continues to be focused on increasing uptake and usage among GPs and Integrated Care Partnerships. Demonstration sessions have been held at GP practices which have also been issued with leaflets promoting the service. TSMs meet regularly with clinical teams which use the service to review progress and provide training and advice on day-to-day user issues.

While the telemonitoring service has traditionally been used by people with respiratory and heart conditions, diabetes, renal disease and post-stroke and weight management, individual Trusts have explored opportunities for expansion into new areas. For example the Northern Health and Social Care Trust has begun to use telehealth monitoring in areas such as Parkinson’s disease and learning disability; and the Southern Health and Social Care Trust is exploring the potential for its use to support smoking cessation.

TSMs attend monthly regional service management group meetings with representatives of the TF3 consortium. These meetings are service-orientated and encourage sharing of knowledge, experience and good practice. Some Trust staff and key stakeholders have also taken the opportunity to visit the Telemonitoring NI centre to gain a better understanding of the service and its associated benefits and to develop positive working relationships with the TF3 team.