The 3ML organisers will find that seeking publicity is a two-edged sword. See the following article by the UK’s populist newspaper the Daily Mail as it responds to 3ML publicity from Bosch and Tunstall with a good description of telehealth monitoring…but look how their readers respond in their comments! Apart from the two errors* in the item, it indicates what the 3ML campaign will be up against. Some readers might want to post a more balanced reaction. Would you trust this machine to act as your GP?
* The Bosch part of the item implies that 3ML is all about 3 million telehealth users and ignores telecare users, and Tunstall’s UK & Ireland Managing Director Simon Arnold says “Telehealth staff are not medically trained…” That may be true of Tunstall Healthcare, but it is not true of all telehealth companies.
Unfortunately comments are closed on the original [i][apologies, I hadn’t checked, Steve][/i] but it is hardly surprising people react in such a negative or dismissive manner when the article includes phrases such as:
[quote]Effectively patients are monitored 24 hours a day in their own homes[/quote]
– another from Simon Arnold – giving the impression that a person is connected to a machine 24/7 … and
[quote]Within the decade the attachments, such as arm cuffs, will be dispensed with and a microchip implanted under the skin will constantly communicate the state of our health to ‘the box’.[/quote]
It is a pity they didn’t start off with June’s story; she brought honesty and balance with her account, including explaining how a mistake in applying the technolgoy was rectified.
Another awareness raising opportunity missed!
I agree with you Cathy the whole slant of the article seems to be positive towards Telehealth yet the Headline, a couple of errors and a litlle scaremongering have made into a missed opportunity.
GPs will never be replaced; micro chipping may come in over the next decade but it will be with a very select few who VOLUNTEER; monitoring 24/7 will only ever happen in a hospital and even that might be 11/7 due to staffing and pressures!!
If Steve Arnold did indeed state that Telehealth staff are not medically trained then it was a big error on his part as even Tunstall utilise medically trained staff for some of their services – as well as those unsung heroes the Telehealth Monitoring Nurses that are out there in the wilds of a Trust building near you….
Some comments hone in on these errors thus making it more negative than positive. Shame