NHS set to employ new technology

24 February 2009 04:36am

More technology is being put into the NHS to enable more patients to be diagnosed closer to home, it has emerged.

Details of the £1.6 million investment in "teleheath" projects will be announced in Stirling by the health secretary Nicola Sturgeon.

The projects include putting touch screens into the homes of hundreds of patients with chronic conditions in the Lothian areas, enabling symptoms to be monitored from home.

New software will also enable patients records in Glasgow to be sent electronically direct to consulting rooms.

In Orkney, online scanning is to be introduced to enable patients to be diagnosed remotely, avoiding long journeys to hospital.

A total of 16 projects will share in the £1.6 million, more than £500,000 of which will come from the NHS' major IT contractor, the ATOS Origin Alliance.

Ms Sturgeon will tell the conference: "Our joint investment in 16 pilot projects will help patients in hospital and at home.

"At the West of Scotland Heart and Lung Centre, for example, they're replacing cardiac databases with the latest systems to improve patient safety."

"Together with NHS Lothian, we're also rolling out Scotland's biggest telehome monitoring system."

"Four hundred people living with conditions like heart failure or chronic lung disease will have touch screens to monitor their vital signs from home, helping them avoid repeated hospital visits."

© The Press Association