In January 2008, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that hundreds of thousands of patients with chronic and long term illnesses would be entitled to benefit from telehealth services.

Strategically, the delivery of such services rests with the Strategic Health Authorities across the UK.

There are ten Strategic Health Authorities, each with regional responsibility to enact directives and implement fiscal policy laid down by the Department of Health. Each Strategic Health Authority is responsible for various NHS Trusts which run or commission local NHS services.

Within this remit, Strategic Health Authorities are under mounting pressure to deliver healthcare services whilst reducing costs and achieving greater economies.

Healthcare priorities include delivering better care locally, with more services closer to people’s homes or local residences, shorter waiting times, improved access to care, consistency in care across the health system, greater patient choice and flexibility, and better use of communications technology, particularly in areas such as telehealth.

As well as delivering specific benefits to carers and patients alike, telehealth meets many of these priorities head on. Remote monitoring means that clinicians have more time to devote to caring. It means that patients can opt to receive their care from home rather than travelling to and from a hospital.