e-health in a Remote and Rural Setting in the North of Scotland- An Evolving Success Story



Grant Cumming*, NHS Grampian Scotland; University of Aberdeen
Andrew Fowlie , NHS Grampian
Adrian Baker , NHS Highland
Thomas Heneghan , NHS Grampian
Neil Hamilton , University of Aberdeen
Stefan Agamanolis


Track: Practice Track
Presentation Topic: Public (e-)health, population health technologies, surveillance
Presentation Type: Oral presentation
Submission Type: Single Presentation

Building: MaRS Centre
Room: CR3
Date: 2008-09-04 01:30 PM – 03:00 PM
Last modified: 2008-11-06
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Abstract


Thomas Friedman's aphorism Connect and Collaborate from his book "The world is Flat together with the enthusiasm supported by scientific rigor generated from Mednet 2006 were the catalysts for developing an infrastructure to delivering health and social care differently to a population of 120,000 and a geographical area covering 2238 squarekm2 in the North of Scotland.

On the back of seed funding for economic growth in the region and the success of menopause1 and miscarriage2 websites, www.babyfeedingmattters.co.uk was commissioned. NHS Grampian then made funding available to develop the use of the website with a teleconferencing facility to promote breastfeeding and support of women in a rural setting. NHS Grampian then provided further funding for the development of www.health-e-space.com - both as a conduit and an infrastructure to deliver holistic health care to the Moray area of Scotland under the self care agenda. This infrastructure is clinically driven and will allow in addition to providing information, support forums, story telling and relevant links to kite marked sites, management of chronic conditions where pathways of care are clear and management of complex care where multiple conditions/social circumstances are impacting on health and wellbeing.
The website is being developed using the PEDI process (Personalized predictive health care plans, Evidence based health and care, Digital consultations with health care professionals and Interactive web-based care). Health-e-space.com will be subdivided into community health-e-space, spiritual health-e-space and personalized health-e-space. The user will be able to have access to their own health content using the tools on www.health-e-space.com where they can bring together quality assured information about their own health, anticipate changes and create their own record and risk assessment on their own computer using predictive modeling. If they have a 10% or greater risk of being admitted to hospital in the next year, an interactive anticipatory care package will be designed (if appropriate) for their use to reduce this risk.

At all stages, site development will be subject to focus group scrutiny and all aspects of delivery of the service will be subject to qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Because of its rurality Moray has several isolated communities, Dufftown is one such community-not only is it the malt whiskey capital of the world but it will be the first to pilot www.health-e-space.com and self blood pressure monitoring with interactive consultation with a clinician if required. A pilot using a cohort of 50 people is in progress.

www.health-e-space.com is unique not only in its collaboration with universities, clinicians and industry but also in generation of revenue streams. Generating revenue streams other than non recurring funding is the challenge of websites in general and medical-related websites in particular. We believe we have developed a unique symbiotic relationship with the local newspaper by creating links to their website and advertising streams.

An overview and update of ehealth in Moray will be given.

References:
1. Cumming GP, Herald J, Moncur R, Currie H, Lee AJ. Women's attitudes to hormone replacement therapy, alternative treatments and sexual health. Menopause International 2007;13:79-83
2. Cumming G, Klein S, Bolsover D, Alexander D, Hamilton N. The development and evaluation of a miscarriage-related website for women and partners following early pregnancy loss : A pilot study
11th World Congress on Internet in Medicine 2006: 26

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