As Mark blogged about recently, calls for telemedicine have been growing over the last few months, with predictions that the market will grow by 19 per cent annually over the next three years. At the same time, Sir Bruce Keogh, the medical director of the NHS has been urging more doctors to start holding virtual consultations with patients over the next 12 months. With some medical experts estimating that telemedicine could save the NHS more than £1billion, whilst improving the patient experience, it’s easy to see why the market has been tipped for big growth over the next few years.
We’re increasingly seeing demand for this kind of service and just recently completed a fantastic telemedicine project in the North of England that will help NHS organisations in Lancashire and Cumbria provide greater service to stroke victims, and save the NHS more than £8m a year.
Time is of the essence when it comes to successfully treating stroke victims. Thrombolysis, a life-saving treatment, can only be given to patients within 4.5 hours of the onset of a stroke. However, speed must not prioritised be over quality of service - if thrombolysis is prescribed incorrectly it can be harmful. So that the right diagnosis can be made, it’s vital that specialists are given access to the patient and their medical information quickly when a stroke is suspected.
The innovative new video conferencing system will allow these specialist doctors to see stroke patients much faster, by removing the need to travel to where the patient is. For example, an off-duty consultant at home could get a call about a suspected stroke victim and within minutes be able to speak to and assess the patient via video link, whilst accessing crucial medical information (such as CT scans and patient history) that will allow them to diagnose the patient quickly.
With 4,000 people suffering a stroke every year across Lancashire and Cumbria, it’s estimated that the use of telemedicine could save more than 20 lives a year, whilst preventing 40 cases of serious complications and stopping 30 patients from needing full-time care.
This project is a fantastic example of how public sector organisations can reduce costs, whilst improving services by embracing technology as an enabler of innovative services. With such clear benefits, the momentum driving telemedicine forwards is likely to increase rapidly over the coming year as healthcare providers discover the clinical and cost saving benefits it can bring.
Interested in finding out more about how the healthcare sector is embracing IT? Why not check out the video below in which David Astley, our Head of Health & Emergency Services, talks about how changing technology might affect interactions between doctors and patients in the future:
