The Journal of mHealth Vol 1 Issue 2 (Apr 2014) | Page 37

Telehealth Case Study: Airedale Telehealth Hub
The Hub is used to deliver remote services across multiple care pathways,
with new additional use cases being
introduced on a regular basis. The
scope of the deployment has become
self-perpetuating with existing services fuelling innovation, pilot studies,
and research that is then used to guide
future digital service models.
Strategic industry partners provide the
technological infrastructure for the service, which helps ensure a stable, highquality, and effective deployment. Considerable work has been undertaken
by technology partner Red Embedded
to deliver the set-top boxes which are
installed onsite, either within individual
patient’s homes or within care-home
environments. The system allows the
delivery of video and content to a range
of devices including the patient’s TV at
home. The service also integrates into
clinical workflows facilitating improved
access to care and development of
new pathways. Red Embedded has also
developed a range of complementary
video enabled technologies including:
phone handsets and multimedia tablets.
Another external partner Technomed
provides remote cardiac monitoring infrastructure that is used by The
ECG Cardiology Telemedicine Service
to provide remote cardiology services
to, Clinical Commissioning Groups,
GPwSI, GPs, Prisons or private healthcare providers, allowing Airedale NHS
Foundation Trust to remotely provide
cardiology outpatient services to any
GP practice within the UK.
This system facilitates a workflow
that can significantly improve patient
experience and care efficiency. By taking remote data collected onsite at a
primary care location e.g. the GP’s
surgery, the data can be securely transmitted to the Cardiology Telemedicine
Service along with the relevant patient
history data file. The service staff can
then return delivery after interpretation of a recommended action plan
together with the diagnostic result,

and if required suggest escalation to a
Consultant Cardiologist to allow for a
remote video consultation to take place
with the Cardiologist and the patient as
well as enabling detailed management
to be agreed with the GP.
One particular care setting managed by
the Hub is residential care homes for
the elderly. The Hub uses video conferencing equipment to directly interact
with care home residents, as well as key
stakeholders related to the patient e.g.
care home support staff, family and
friends, as well as hospital doctors and
consultants.
Rebecca Malin, head of business development and investment at Airedale
NHS Trust says: “It costs around £200,

per month, per pati