Introducing telehealth at scale and pace: a development resource for telehealth pioneers

Abstract

Policy-makers and commentators increasingly recognise the potential for new service models incorporating Telehealth to improve quality of life, reduce unnecessary hospital admissions, increase self care behaviors and deliver financial savings to the health and social care system. A developing international literature is producing robust evidence on clinical effectiveness; new service models and business cases are being developed with increasing rigour. However, as with all significant change management agendas, multiple stakeholders with differing evidential needs and thresholds must be engaged and convinced before concrete steps to deliver new services are taken.Yorkshire and the Humber is currently a "living laboratory" of experimentation and innovation with respect to introducing new service models incorporating Telehealth for the care of people with long-term conditions-COPD, Diabetes and Heart Failure. Motivational Telecoaching, Telemonitoring and Telemedicine are being used to varying amounts and in various contexts to transform services provided for vulnerable adults.The Telehealth Toolkit collates and organizes the strategic and operational materials supporting these implementations. It incorporates additional national and international resources to enable those embarking upon a Telehealth deployment to build on the experience and learning from the pathfinders, increasing their chances of success. It works with regional video case materials to raise awareness and build confidence amongst the wider healthcare community for telehealth generally and for changes to service models more specifically. The resources are created by NHS Yorkshire and the Humber and are available on the web.