25 May 2011

I have spent the last two days dodging the Icelandic ash cloud and attending conferences in Scotland.

Travelling to Glasgow for the Holyrood Telecare and Telehealth conference on Monday was an experience as the Easyjet pilot battled with 80mph cross winds while trying to safely land an aircraft with over 100 increasingly anxious passengers. If you had been wearing a pendant you would have pressed it with increasingly frequency as the journey got progressively worse!

I had been invited to speak on telecare and telehealth utilisation, and it was a good opportunity to wave the TSA flag and explain the main work we have undertaken on standards in the Market. I shared the initial plenary session platform with James Ferguson (who spoke at our conference last year and for those who can't recall him by name then think back to the speaker who regularly interspersed his talk with amusing cartoons and the James Bond video), Dr George Crooks - Medical Director of NHS 24, and Moira Mackenzie - Telecare Programme Manager, Scottish Joint Improvement Team.

What really struck me was the get up and go attitude in Scotland towards telecare and telehealth implementation. There is a clear commitment to integrate health and social care by bringing together telecare and telehealth under the single NHS 24 banner. Maybe the smaller size of the country enables a quicker implementation of change, but I think there is also an attitude of let's get on with it - 'apologise afterwards rather than ask first' seemed to be the philosophy!

And then yesterday was the TSA regional forum meeting in Edinburgh. Another well attended forum with excellent presentations on a range of issues. These included Donna Henderson from the Joint Improvement Team speaking on the integration of health and social care, and the role for telecare; smart metering and the potential impact on telecare; a presentation from Cordia (Services) on their telecare services and then from John Mooney of Jontek Ltd on the impact m-Care could have for service users and their families. All these presentations are now on the TSA website – Members’ Area, so take the opportunity to have a look.

On a separate point we are now closer to this year's conference than last year's! Plans are well underway, with a number of improvements that will continue to confirm this as the No1 and must attend conference. We already have over 100 delegate bookings under the early bird offering and over 75% of the 42 exhibition stands have been sold. So if it is not already in your diary then put 14-16 November in London in NOW!

Regards

Trevor Single