Category Archives: Carers

Work is needed on the future of telehealth care

January 6, 2012   Carers, disability

More work needed on telehealth

Telehealth has benefits for patients with long-term conditions but despite industry excitement there are still areas of concern, argues Jeremy Wyatt

Telehealth could help those with long-term conditions but more work needs to be done into who would benefit the most.

The Whole System Demonstrators showed that, “if used correctly”, telehealth reduced death rates by 45%, NHS resource usage by 15-20% and tariff costs by 8%. With these striking results and the launch of the industry/NHS funded 3 Million Lives campaign, telehealth is steaming out of its backwater into the clinical mainstream.

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Boris Johnson is worried about the effect of the reforms to DLA

January 6, 2012   Carers, Diabetes

Boris Johnson turns his fire on the Government’s reforms to Disability Living Allowance

 

By Politics Last updated: January 6th, 2012

 

Living with a disability is expensive – for the disabled and the taxpayer

One of the Coalition government’s less well-covered reforms is that of the disability living allowance (DLA). The DLA is not an out-of-work benefit and it is not means tested: it’s payable to everyone with a disability, to help with the many extra financial costs that disabled people have to live with. Unfortunately, it’s also very expensive: since the early 1990s, the number of people claiming the allowance has tripled, to nearly 2.2 million. The Government believes too many people are claiming the benefit, so it is introducing stricter new tests, designed to save £1.4 billion by 2015.

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Patient champions receive funding boost

January 6, 2012   Carers

The future local champions for patients and the public have been given a £3.5m funding boost, Andrew Lansley has announced

The local bodies will give patients, members of the public, and carers a say over how their health service is run.

 

From next year, an additional £3.2m will be made available to local authorities to establish Local Healthwatch, the new local health bodies set to replace Local Involvement Networks.

An additional £370,000 will be made available until the end of the 2011/12 financial year for 75 pathfinders and can be used in any part of their development. This could include spreading best practice, engaging more in the community, and financially supporting volunteers.

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