Finnish Health Innovation Team in Northern Ireland for Telemonitoring NI Learning Visit

Building on the activities of eHealth Week 2013, the Centre for Connected Health and Social Care (CCHSC) which is part of the Public Health Agency (PHA), was delighted to welcome delegates from the Finnish Health Care System to the TF3 Telemonitoring NI centre in Holywood to see first-hand the fantastic support being offered to people who live with long-term conditions across Northern Ireland.

Telemonitoring NI, a leading example of connected health, was being showcased at the eHealth exhibition and Northern Ireland Connected Health Ecosystem International Event which took place last week. The Telemonitoring NI service provided by the TF3 Consortium, has to date benefited over 1,500 patients with long-term conditions in Northern Ireland, helping them to better manage their health.

Eddie Ritson, Programme Director of the CCHSC, said: "After presenting at the Finland Plaza this week in Dublin on the Telemonitoring NI service, I was delighted to welcome delegates from Finland to the TF3 Telemonitoring NI centre in Holywood, to see first-hand the telemonitoring service in action.

"Colleagues learned about the clinical triage service, which is delivered in Northern Ireland by nurses to monitor readings such as blood pressure and weight on a daily basis. This remote management allows patients who would otherwise have to travel to their GP or hospital to be monitored in their own homes. This means less stress for patients and helps them in understanding and managing their condition.

"Telemonitoring is an excellent example of how modern technology can help deliver a better service for the patient, allowing them to take control and manage their condition with confidence. It also allows more efficient use of the healthcare professional’s time and skills.

"The service has an ambitious programme for development and next year plans to accelerate the uptake of telehealth into broader clinical conditions and expand into telecare. The visit proved to be a great success allowing us to demonstrate to the Finnish Health Care System how far the service has come and to share experiences on the delivery of telehealth."

Leading the Finnish delegation, Kalevi Virta, Independent Consultant, eWELL Oy and Coordinator, at the Centre for Health and Technology, City of Oulu, said: "The monitoring solutions we viewed are an excellent example of how today's technology can be used to create meaningful services to improve patient care.

"The implementation and outcomes of the activity are very encouraging and will aid our own development work. We saw many dedicated and satisfied professionals who have clearly seen the great advantage they have when working with the modern monitoring based service. They have created an innovative but practical service concept for the best of their patients.

"We are looking forward to cooperating with the CCHSC, to exchange experiences and also to jointly generate an even better service to support people by enhancing their quality of life in their own homes!"

Kristoffer Axelsson, Chief Executive Officer at Tunstall Nordic said: "The results from the first Tunstall telemonitoring deployments in Finland have shown very positive outcomes, and it's great for those engaging with telehealth to see successful programmes first hand, learning lessons in the delivery and implementation of services to help people manage long-term conditions more effectively."

For further information, please visit:
http://www.telemonitoringni.info

About Telemonitoring NI
The Telemonitoring NI service, provided by TF3 in conjunction with the five Health and Social Care Trusts (HSCTs), is funded by the DHSSPS and the Centre for Connected Health and Social Care, (CCHSC) part of the Public Health Agency (PHA) and set to benefit up to 20,000 people over six years by enabling better control over their own health and improving care outcomes.

The TF3 consortium comprises Tunstall Healthcare, Fold Housing Association and S3 Group. In March 2011 TF3 was selected through a process led by the CCHSC part of the Public Health Agency (PHA) to provide a nationwide remote telemonitoring service to the Northern Ireland Health and Social Care System.

About eWELL Oy
eWELL Oy is a consultancy company specialized for the health and social care sector ICT and service solution innovation developments and networks. Kalevi Virta has a long experience from the Finnish eco system, he has coordinated several major funding and development programmes and has excellent connections to different private companies, service providers and research organizations.

eWELL Oy coordinates the Finland Plaza activities and the Finnish delegation group activities during the WoHIT 2013.

About CHT<7b>
The Centre for Health and Technology (CHT) is a regional research and business-driven Innovation centre, which associates universities, research centres, enterprises and regional authorities. The goal is to build internationally competitive connected health ecosystem. Their main interest is the development of next generation social and healthcare technologies, processes and services in close co-operation with companies. CHT’s role is to combine the best ideas, people and resources from different fields of industries and science and build international collaboration networks for players in the Oulu region. CHT projects are multi-disciplinary, with the main focus on technology, but with close links to application development, usability and social sciences. Focus areas of CHT are wireless health monitoring, individualized healthcare, and genes and lifestyle.

CHT represents 6 stakeholders in the region, all of whom have signed a co-operation agreement. The founding partners have committed to focus their operations, education, research and development activities on agreed innovation areas. The partners are: the City of Oulu (BusinessOulu and social and health services), University of Oulu, Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), Technopolis Plc, and Northern Ostrobothnia Hospital District.

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