Meredith Burn, Sara Trow, Richard Emmess, Marja Winstanley and Margaret Seddon
The system, which is known as Telehealth, is operated in Blackpool as a partnership between the NHS and Vitaline. It means that certain patients, who would normally have to be treated in hospital, can stay in their own home and information about their condition is regularly assessed using the latest technology.
While Telehealth has been very successful in Blackpool and has won national awards, managers were more than a bit surprised when they were told that a member of staff from Tasmania’s Department of Health and Human Services wanted to come over to see the system in operation.
Meredith Burn from DHHS Tasmania heard about the success in Blackpool after contacting Marja Winstanley at Tunstall, which supplies the Telehealth equipment.
Margaret Seddon, manager at Vitaline, said: “We were more than happy to show Meredith around our offices at Layton and explain how it all operates.
“Some NHS departments in the UK use Telehealth but they only monitor patients during normal working hours. The advantage in Blackpool is that patients receive a 24-hour-a-day service from Vitaline, giving them a greater reassurance that help is only a phone call away.
“Meredith explained that the major problem in Tasmania was the sheer distance between patients, where in Blackpool we can reach all our clients in around 15 minutes.”
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