Telephone befriending: a valuable service during lockdown

 In response to the coronavirus outbreak, Healthwatch Enfield staff and volunteers staffed a telephone befriending scheme from April to August 2020. This report gives a snapshot of issues raised by residents identified as being vulnerable or at risk. It highlights the impact of social isolation on health and wellbeing including mental health issues on residents, with those with on-going health needs being particularly affected.

Read Healthwatch Enfield report here

Therapists and patients have good quality interactions during telephone sessions

Read National Institute of Health Research alert here
Read full text article here

Online Self-Management Helpful for Anxiety, Depression and Pain

Emerging research suggests that for some individuals, online symptom self-management plus clinician telecare is the best strategy for treating anxiety, depression and pain.  Click here to read further.

Online Speech Therapy Can Be as Effective as In-Person Treatment

Rehabilitation services delivered over the Internet and through other telecommunication networks allow health care professionals to reach more patients in need, but there has been some concern that so-called telerehabilitation doesn’t offer the same quality of care as in-person treatment.

Now a new study by Canadian researchers at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care shows there is no need to worry.

The findings, published in the journal Aphasiology, show that stroke patients who received speech language therapy over the Internet saw significant improvements in their communication skills, similar to those of patients receiving in-person treatment.

International Code for Planning, Commissioning and Providing Technology Enabled Care Services

CECOPS has developed a first-ever International outcomes-based Code of Practice for Planning, Commissioning and Providing Technology Enabled Care Services (TECS).


The end-to-end Code can help organisations prepare for engaging with TECS, as well as providing a quality framework for procurement and provision of services, simplifying the commissioning and tendering of services. It can also help with assessing, progressing and accelerating organisational readiness.


This new Code brings together all these technologies in one truly integrated framework. Uniquely, this Code, which sets out standards covering every aspect of services, offers an end-to-end and whole-system approach, ranging from the early planning stages through to post-implementation of services. It can be looked at as a value-chain solution that interlinks those responsible for planning and commissioning services with service users, through the activities of clinicians and providers.

Phone-Based Primary Care Can Ease Anxiety, Mood Symptoms

A phone-based collaborative care program designed to treat panic and generalized anxiety disorders in primary care was found to be much more effective in lowering symptoms and increasing health-related quality of life than typical care, according to new research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Read more HERE.

Information delivered by telemedicine can improve diabetes control

Telemedicine, such as text messaging or internet support systems used to communicate with patients, improves long-term blood sugar control in adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

From the NIHR Dissemination Centre

Telehealth: Mapping the evidence for patient outcomes from systematic reviews

Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
AHRQ looks at 58 systematic reviews of telehealth and identifies areas where it is more likely to be effective.

The state of Telecare - NEJM Article

This is a  broad, comprehensive analysis of the challenges and opportunities facing the telehealth phenomenon. What is becoming clearer to the innovators  is that some combination of strategies, tactics, and activities needs to be developed that does everything at once: improves patient and family convenience, improves patient outcomes, enhances the physician-patient relationship, engages patients and families, reduces cost, and improves care delivery operating efficiency.

Telehealth may help some people be more active after a heart attack

A variety of “telehealth” approaches may be worth considering for encouraging physical activity after a heart attack or heart surgery, suggests a review of published research. Cardiac rehabilitation and exercise programmes are well known to be effective in improving survival following a heart attack.

Typical cardiac rehabilitation programmes offer exercise classes, education about heart disease and healthier lifestyle, and approaches to reduce stress. Although rehabilitation is usually provided as group sessions in hospital settings, in the UK only about 45% of those eligible join schemes and many drop out. This review looked at 11 studies of telehealth from around the developed world that included telephone contact, text messages, email reminders or exercise-related phone apps for use at home compared with rehabilitation delivered at a centre.

Overall, the review found few studies comparing telehealth delivered programmes directly with centre-based rehabilitation, and the evidence was not strong enough to be confident of any difference on exercise levels or fitness outcomes. There was a modest benefit over usual care. People using telehealth delivered programmes appear to complete more sessions. There was no evidence to compare costs.

The study population, at an average age of 58, was young. Whether telehealth works for people who are older or less likely to use technology is yet to be tested.

From the NIHR Dissemination Centre