UK telehealth firm gains EU recognition

The Health-eLife project, which uses doc@HOME technology from UK-based telehealth services firm Docobo, has been awarded ‘project of the month’ status by the EU.

The project has been supported by the EU eTen initiative, designed to promote the deployment of network-based services across Europe.

Each month the EU looks at different projects connected to the eTen initiative and highlights one project. The Docobo project is intended to validate the management of patients with long term conditions in their homes.

An EU eTen spokesperson told E-Health Insider: “The focus of Health-eLife is the exploration of implementation requirements for the deployment of the new doc@HOME Tele-Health service and the preparation of a business plan to attract investors and formalise deployment.”

They added that they felt the initiative did a good job in looking after the welfare of patients who have long-term illnesses.

“Health-eLife provides a comprehensive solution, based on the doc@HOME programme platform that enables health providers to manage patients with long term conditions in their own homes, initially for heart disease, respiratory disease and diabetes.”

Surrey-based Docobo has focused on two of its products in this project, the HealthHUB hand held patient monitoring device, and the web-based doc@HOME system.

The two products are designed to work together in helping clinicians and nurses monitor the health status of their patients without them needing to be admitted to hospital.

A spokesperson from Docobo told EHI: “The two systems work very well together. Authorised general practitioners, clinicians and nurses can access their patient information at any time and from any location using their secure access codes.

The system works by staff keeping track of their patient’s progress and sending them messages when they need to communicate with their patients.

“Patients are not tied to their homes as the HealthHUB is small light weight and completely self-contained unit allowing care to follow the patient,” Added the spokesperson.

Docobo explained that the system "provides patient information in a format compliant to HL7 messaging standards and is therefore compatible with current developments in Electronic Patient Record and existing primary and secondary care healthcare computing systems."

The system was trialled by City University, London in June 2003 and is now being used by the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, as well as in Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Portugal.

Both of the systems have been validated by the EC to ‘optimise management of patients suffering from chronic diseases in their homes…overcoming barriers of time and geography.’

It is available for immediate purchase through the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency’s Telecare Contract and eCat, from whom Docobo says a number of orders have been received.

Further information can be found on the Project of the Month website. 

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