This report follows on from Telemedical Activity in the United Kingdom: A Review and Assessment.  It proposes some further applications across other medical disciplines and other sectors of the NHS.

This study was commissioned by the R&D Division of the Department of Health and undertaken by researchers from LSU College, University of Southampton.  It is a companion study to an earlier one reviewing activity in telemedicine in the UK.  The objective was to identify potential applications of telemedicine and to propose a scenario for the development of telemedicine.

The study briefly describes some of the recent applications of telemedicine and, building on these, proposes some future applications across other medical deisciplines and other sectors of the NHS.  Both benefits and opportunities are described.

Telemedicine is a new way of delivering healthcare allowing a change  from a centralised service to one which is patient centred, resource efficient and where decisions are made at a local level close to the patient.  

The study concludes that to gain maximum benefit from telemedicine, its impact across the NHS as a whole must be studied now, along with opportunities for revenue generation.  Without such concerted research, the development of telemedicine will remain unco-ordinated, with activity focused in specialist areas led by academic researchers and commerical organisations.