Our Health, Our Care, Our Say

This Government White Paper was published in January 2006 after one of the largest consultations in Government history. It commits the government to increasing choice within the NHS, and renews the emphasis on putting patients in control of their health options and shifting health and social care services towards prevention.

There is a specific commitment in the White Paper to enabling people to remain independent and active in their own homes, with a recognition that telecare has an important role to play in this respect. Improving joint PCT and local authority commissioning arrangements, it argues, will be crucial for the development of telecare.

Chapter 5, 'Support for people with longer term needs', outlines in more depth the role the Department of Health expects telecare to play and illustrates it with case studies.

Our Health, Our Care, Our Say