Further evidence that the UK’s Department of Health (DH) has lost its telecare policy focus: the From the Ground Up: A report and guide to integrate design and services published last week, which should be brimming with suggestions for how telecare and telehealth can help the care integration process, makes a couple of passing references to old material.
Shame on the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brookes University which produced the ‘guide’ and shame on the Community Health Partnerships and the Integrated Care Network that commissioned it. Shame on whoever put together Appendix 6: Integration a policy timeline and totally ignored the Integrating Community Equipment Services programme and Building Telecare in England and shame on the DH policy officers who let it pass without picking them up.
Full version for download here. The Integrated Care Network’s ‘easy read’ (!) version here.