Mobile phone 'nurses' track health of patients

"People suffering from asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure simply enter details of their condition and treatment into standard mobile handsets that have been programmed with special software. The data is automatically sent to hospital database where it is analysed by a nurse who decides whether any action needs to be taken. Studies have shown that the system helps catch complications before they get out of control, without burdening patients with regular visits to their GP. It also reduces hospital admissions for long-term patients by up to 90 per cent, potentially saving the NHS millions of pounds per year. The software, designed by a company called t+ Medical, has been adopted by eight primary care trusts in Walsall, Oxfordshire, Norfolk and Norwich, Newham, Southampton, Leicester, North East Essex and Calderdale. The software costs around £250 per patient per year. Lionel Tarassenko, a professor at the University of Oxford and a board member of t+ Medical, said that the service helped monitor patients in between hospital visits. 'There are 12 million people in Britain who have diabetes, asthma, hypertension or COPD – that's a fifth of the population,' he said. 'Chronic long-term conditions are among the highest costs to the NHS, accounting for 80 per cent of all GP consultations. It is in between visits to the doctor that these diseases run out of control. By the time anybody notices anything is wrong, they're in the hospital with an emergency.'" - The Telegraph