Executive Summary
There is considerable support for the retention of a centre of telehealth expertise and clear evidence that the SCT has had significant successes in various discrete areas. However, poor communication, confusion over the SCT's role and purpose, and the absence of a clear strategic direction are damaging its reputation, success, influence, and staff morale. Section 7 of this report summarises these and other findings and Section 8 outlines 14 recommendations. Of these, the priorities are:
- the SCT's governance arrangements should be streamlined and improved
- the telecare landscape should be simplified with the SCT joining one of the Special Boards; the best fit would be NHS24
- the telehealth and telecare programmes should be more closely integrated, and the terms (and definitions) used should be simplified
- the SCT should become more strategic, focusing on a few clinical areas initially, for example stroke and paediatrics, moving them from pilot to universal use
- the SCT requires a telehealth strategy that this underpinned by an IT infrastructure plan
- action is required to improve bridging and videoconferencing services
- consideration should be given to the introduction of an element of core funding for national telehealth solutions