What is Telecare/Telehealth?

Telecare describes any service that brings health and social care directly to a user in their home, supported by information and communication technology. Telecare covers a wide range of equipment (detectors, monitors, alarms, pendants etc) and services (assessment, installation, monitoring, call centres and response).

Telecare includes detectors or monitors (for example, a flood or falls detectors) that trigger a warning at a control centre that can be responded to swiftly should an incident occur.

There is range of possible responses, some already established and some that require development. For example a formal carer, ambulance, fire service or a dedicated telecare response team.

The main benefits of telecare are:

• Ability to better meet the needs of the local community, particularly rural areas.

• Increase in the levels of patient, service user and carer independence, choice and personal autonomy.

• Support for carers.

• Increased safety and security, thereby reducing incidents, accidents and falls in the home.

• Encourages ‘expert patients’ by increasing self care and self management ability.

• Reduce and delay patients, service users and carers dependence on mainstream health and social care services.

• Facilitate timely discharge from hospital/care homes.

• Reduction in re-admission to hospital.

• Reduction in the number of appointments/visits to secondary and primary care.

• Reduced length of stay in secondary care for people with long term conditions.

• Development of telehealth pathways that link effectively with other local services (District Nursing, Out of Hours etc) and local strategies (Falls; Long term Conditions; Intermediate Care; Social Care and Wellbeing).

Telecare includes telehealth, which is the remote monitoring of vital signs (for example, blood pressure) for diagnosis, assessment and prevention. Data is transmitted to a response centre or clinician’s computer where it is monitored against agreed parameters. This allows early interventions, which can result in the avoidance of future problems and the need for hospitalisation. It can also be used to enable earlier discharge from hospital.

Telecare equipment should be used as an additional tool in a package of care and support or as an option to prolong independence, and not as a replacement for personal care services.