Bosch Healthcare launches independent telehealth project in the UK

Tuesday 29th June 2010

Bosch Healthcare today announced the first major UK project of its Telehealth Plus system in conjunction with Barnsley Primary Care Trust, with the potential to become one of the largest independent projects in the country.
 
The project begins in September with an initial 150 high intensity patients living with congestive heart failure (CHF) who will be provided with the Bosch Telehealth Plus monitoring system. Evaluation of the first 150 patients will be supported by a local university and this will trigger the roll out to the second phase. The patient feedback will be central to the evaluation process.
 
In a second phase, a further few hundred Barnsley patients with long-term conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and type 2 diabetes will then be chosen to take part in the programme with the aim of rolling it out to thousands of patients in the third phase.
 
The system is designed to facilitate independent living and enhance quality of life as well as reduce unnecessary healthcare costs. Bosch Telehealth Plus provides care managers and nurses the ability to remotely monitor patients with individual or complex chronic conditions at home on a daily basis and to intervene by telephone or in person if necessary before crises occur.

Growing demand for Telehealth
More than 60,000 people – more than 25% of the population – in the Barnsley region live with chronic illnesses, and the Barnsley Primary Care Trust (PCT) has become one of the most progressive centres of telehealth in the country to help people with long-term conditions to optimise their health and well being as well as make best use of healthcare services at a time of every increasing demand.  
 
Brian Hughes, Director of Intelligence, Innovation and Quality at Barnsley PCT, said: "Our partnership with Bosch Healthcare represents a significant commitment to help people deal with the problems that living with a long-term health condition can cause. Once the first phase of the project has been undertaken we look forward to being able to roll it out further with our eventual aim to see Barnsley as a leader in the provision of telehealth navigation."
 
Barnsley PCT has also led the way in self-directed care through innovations such as telehealth because of the clinical value it has in promoting behaviour change.

Bosch Healthcare provides a telehealth system supporting sustained health improvements and is globally one of the market leaders in terms of telehealth management and cost outcomes following more than 30 different studies including several randomised clinical trials over the past 10 years. In the US, long-term studies of the Bosch system show that overall hospital admissions can be reduced by more than 20%.

The Bosch Telehealth system drives a model of care focused on providing patients with tools to support self-management and adherence leading to an enhanced quality of life in an independent setting.
 
In addition, the Bosch technology expertise – especially with its background in electronics, sensor technology and system integration will enable telehealth to perform at its full potential.

Ulrich Behner, Vice President for Technical Areas at Robert Bosch Healthcare, said: "Working with the Barnsley PCT gives us the best possible launch of our 'Telehealth with Results' campaign as they fully embrace the benefits that patient empowerment can provide."

The Bosch Healthcare subsidiary underpins the corporate slogan "Invented for life", which goes back to the ideals of founder Robert Bosch to supporting innovation and bringing real benefit to people's lives.

Behner continues: "This is a key project for Bosch Healthcare and we look forward to working with Barnsley PCT and using the Bosch Telehealth system to provide a sustainable and long-term solution for managing patient care in the region."

Bosch Telehealth UK

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