The Orchard Medical Centre has received a prestigious healthcare industry accolade as a result of the success of its use of telehealth to improve care for patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). The Health Business Telehealth Award was presented by BBC News' Nicholas Owen at the award ceremony held at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, and recognises the achievements, innovation and dedication of staff in improving and transforming healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.
GPs and nurses at The Orchard Medical Centre in Bristol have successfully integrated telehealth into their CHF service, to provide more preventative support within the community setting, keeping patients independent and out of emergency care, and promoting greater self-management.
The use of telehealth has helped to avoid hospital admissions and reduce some of the burden on secondary care providers whilst providing a cost-effective model of care for the management of the condition whilst at the same time liberating valuable resources.
Telehealth has proven valuable in identifying trends such as changes in body weight at an early stage to enable early intervention, and also in providing support to patients who find it difficult to visit the surgery. Patients have found the solutions easy to use, resulting in increased medication compliance and a resulting improvement in quality of life.
The GP practice deployed telehealth solutions from leading provider Tunstall Healthcare to carry out remote health monitoring; this is where the telehealth solution prompts patients to take their vital signs and to answer health-related questions at a pre-set time each day. By using the telehealth solutions it has reduced the need for patients to visit the GP practice or hospital and also to better understand their own condition, improving their health and lifestyle.
Tunstall's telehealth monitors are used with medical devices including weighing scales, blood pressure monitors, peak flow meters and ECG monitors that connect to the Tunstall health monitor and transmit the patient's vital signs and related health information. The District Nurses at the practice then securely access the data to make informed and timely decisions about patient health and well-being, working closely with the doctors.
According to Dr Richard Berkley, clinical lead on the telehealth project: "The award reflects the growing acceptance of telehealth as a means of enabling trusts to support a greater number of patients, improving outcomes and making the best use of available resources. Telehealth delivers a true win-win for patient and PCT alike.
"Telehealth keeps people where they want to be, and that's at home with their family. Patient acceptance of telehealth is high; daily monitoring has enabled more accurate titration of patient medication, and also gives patients valuable reassurance, keeping them calm and reducing the risks of exacerbation and of hospital admission."
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About Tunstall
Tunstall Healthcare Group is the market-leading provider of telehealthcare solutions, with over 2.5 million users globally. Tunstalls solutions support older people and those with long-term needs, to live independently, by effectively managing their health and well-being. Tunstall provides technology, expertise and advice to millions of people enabling them to lead independent more fulfilling lives. For more information on how telehealthcare can improve quality of life, visit www.tunstallhealth.com.