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Tag ‘eHealth’

Innovating for healthcare

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

In Europe today our healthcare systems face a lot of challenges. Our population is getting older as life expectancy increases – potentially meaning a lot more elderly and infirm people who have to be cared for. In Europe we’re rightly proud of our healthcare systems: but if we’re going to keep them going we’ll have to do things differently.

Yesterday I had the pleasure to receive a report on just what we need to do: “Redesigning health in Europe for 2020“. President Ilves of Estonia and his task force have ably set out the opportunities for healthcare in a digital age – like how to put patients in control of their personal data; like the need to get all our systems connected and talking to each other; how to revolutionise health through transparency and accountability; and how to include everyone in this revolution, including those without Internet access. I’m grateful to them all for their hard work.

I’m convinced there’s lots of technological solutions that could help us here. Already ideas like telecare are proving their worth. But we have to open our minds to innovation in healthcare.

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Together we can – talking e-Health with Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon

Friday, February 10th, 2012

Nicola Sturgeon & I

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of meeting Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Deputy First Minister responsible for Health and Wellbeing. We discussed the great importance of investing in ICT solutions so people can stay active and healthy for longer, and to promote eHealth – something where Scotland is a forerunner in Europe.

Did you know that Scotland, with just 5 million people, has already deployed telecare and telehealth to more than 40.000 citizens? Indeed, the investments they’ve made – around £16 million (c. €20m) in the period 2006-2010 – have already delivered health benefits and economic efficiencies worth nearly three times that. That shows that investing in ICT for health really pays off. Read the full entry

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ICT delivering 45% reduction in mortality rates – great news from the UK

Friday, December 9th, 2011

I was very pleased to read recently about the promising results of a programme in the UK which shows the enormous potential if we integrate ICT into health care more deeply. The figures from the study are incredible: showing telehealth, used correctly, can deliver a 20% reduction in emergency admissions, 14% reduction in bed days, an 8% reduction in tariff costs and an incredible 45% reduction in mortality rates. That’s impressive stuff. Imagine what this could mean if we could do it at European level.

Best of all, the study suggests that these telehealth results can be transferred to other locations –  and this transferability to a national and a European scale is just what we’re looking for in the European Innovation Partnership on active and healthy ageing.

With the UK pilot being such a success and with the first deployment phase – to 50,000 people – now over, the UK’s next step is to deploy nationwide to three million at-risk patients. This large-scale commitment should deliver large-scale results.

Ultimately, this shows more than ever that innovative solutions, with technology and ICTs fully integrated into care services, can make the lives of terminally ill patients better. And help patients with care needs lead a normal life.

eHealth is undoubtedly delivering savings and radically reducing mortality rates. But such a large-scale deployment can only be achieved if all stakeholders work together: governments working with industry, and with social care and professional partners.

Innovation delivering better lives for people – this is just the type of radical change we need!

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A new era in eHealth

Monday, March 15th, 2010

This afternoon in a speech in Barcelona marking eHealth Week, I called on the eHealth industry, health professionals and national health Ministers to “move up a gear” in order to deliver eHealth for all. Improving eHealth systems is one of the best ways to address the challenge of keeping people healthy and comfortable, as we deal with an aging population and the legacy of the financial crisis.

Our finances demand it. Our citizens expect it. The technology is ripe.

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