The region covered by NHS Highland includes several remote locations, notably the islands of Bute and Luing. For some people living in island communities, emergency medical attention can only be provided by helicopter at massive cost to NHS Highland.

The HomePod is used to measure, among other things, blood pressure and lung function. The results of all patient tests are immediately sent to a carer and medication or treatment can be administered well before the problem turns into an emergency. This not only saves lives but also saves patients the stress and upheaval of having to go into hospital.

In Oban and the Isle of Luing, CommunityPods and SurgeryPods were placed in community halls and surgery waiting rooms. That allowed patients to check their blood pressure, lung function and oxygen saturation without the need for help from practice staff. It also meant they could receive a check at any time, as often as they liked.

On the Isle of Bute, COPD sufferers were given the HomePod to prevent exacerbations and improve their quality of life. The official evaluation for the project, released earlier this year, showed that hospital admissions were reduced by more than 90%, GP visits by 40% and A&E attendances by 70%.

NHS Highland ran a digital voices workshop to allow users to share, in their own words, how the units had changed their lives. The testimonies were later published.

One user said: "Before I had the machine I was up at the hospital two or three times a week. Now, if I get a bit uptight, I'll enter the data and I usually get a phone call within an hour."

Telehealth Solutions Project Manager Charles Lowe added: "For a number of reasons, telehealth saves healthcare providers money. Among the benefits are the reduction in demand for acute care and an increase in the efficiency of primary care. Perhaps the most important achievement of telehealth is that it saves lives and improves quality of life for so many."

Related news articles:

• Telehealth Solutions' Profile

About Telehealth Solutions
Telehealth Solutions was founded in 2006 to bring the convergence of technology and changing clinical practice to the benefit of patients and clinicians. The company has grown rapidly and now has 20 employees who are dedicated to providing the most secure, scalable and robust methods for collecting information from patients, without the need for clinical intervention, and getting that information into the hands of the clinicians and carers who are looking after those patients.

Products in the THSL portfolio, which is explained in-depth on the firm's website www.thsl.co.uk, include:

• HomePod
• CardioPod
• SurgeryPod
• Check-in Pod
• CarePod

The Department of Health states that telehealth is the remote delivery of healthcare using electronic means of communication usually patient to clinician. For example, a patient measuring their vital signs at home and this data being transmitted via a telehealth monitor to a clinician. The principal benefits of telehealth are enabling great professional focus on patients, reducing anxiety, anticipating and, therefore, avoiding crisis admissions to hospital and improving medication compliance. The patient also becomes more informed about their daily health and is an active partner in their own healthcare. This use of technology is particularly good for remote and rural areas.