Status on Scottish Telemedicine Implementation

Meet Margaret Whoriskey from the Scottish Government. She will present the status on implementation of telemedicine in Scotland in ETC’s first session.

 

margaret

Describe the main lines of your organization/company and its relation to telemedicine:

I work with the Scottish Government and I am the Director of the National Technology Enabled Care Programme. We are involved in setting policy for technology enabled care including telehealth and supporting scale up and development across Scotland.

What is the title of your presentation, what will you discuss in that section?

My presentation’s name is “Technology Enabled Care in Scotland – Policy to Delivery” and I will give this session as part of the Status of Implementation of Telemedicine session at the ETC track. I will have a specific focus on the Technology Enabled Care Programme, but will also cover focus areas for Scotland’s large-scale implementation on telemedicine, and current and previous initiatives. I will look at what has worked well, and what has not worked so well in relations to organizational setups, clinical effectiveness and patient perspectives.

What are, in your opinion the main challenges telemedicine is facing?

I approach telemedicine as technology enabled care – (including telehealth and telecare) as in Scotland we are focusing on integration around the citizen for health and social care.  One of the challenges is how we best integrate health and care, both with regards to pathways and technology.  Another challenge in how to scale up and move from small to large-scale projects.  Clinical and professional engagement and cultural readiness is also a challenge. Another key point is demonstrating cost effectiveness and have proper evaluation.

Where do you see telemedicine in the future?

We need to ensure appropriate integration across pathways of care – not as an add on.  Telemedicine also needs to evidence cost effectiveness.

Why is ETC important and which topics what do you how to get from the ETC conference?

ETC provides a great networking opportunity and examples of policy and delivery across many regions of Europe. This allows follow up after the conference and Scotland has benefited from this over the years.

 

In this session you will also learn about the Status of Implementation of Telemedicine in:

Cataluña from Toni Dedeu,

Denmark from Susanne Duus, and

Norway from Kristine Brevik