The potential for telemedicine and telecare in Deptford

We carried out a study to explore the potential of telemedicine and telecare to improve health-care for the population served by a health centre based in Deptford in south-east London. A wide range of potentially useful telemedicine and telecare applications was identified, nine of which could provide some immediate benefit. Other requiring new approaches to the delivery of care involved some reengineering of services. Some suggestions focused on the need to integrate information technology with service provision. Other suggestions raised strategic questions, the most important of which concerned the routes of access to health-care.