Patient and carer survey of remote vital sign telemonitoring for self-management of long-term conditions

BACKGROUND: Home-based self-monitoring has failed to show intended savings to healthcare budgets yet it continues to emerge and gain popularity. OBJECTIVE: We set out to verify stakeholders’ perspectives of remote vital sign telemonitoring. DESIGN: An observational design was adopted by devising a survey for distribution to service users and their informal carers. SAMPLE: Service users in South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust were included. A total of 274 questionnaires were issued. Data from 97 patients (35% response rate) and 49 carers were analysed. Of these, 81 patients and 48 of their carers experienced a monitoring service known as TF3 and 16 patients and 1 carer experienced a service known as U-Tell. The cohorts comprised people living with a number of long-term conditions: diabetes, hypertension after stroke, chronic heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, bronchiectasis and those requiring anticoagulation using warfarin. RESULTS: Analysis showed that respondents were supportive of the technology with 90.7% of patients agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement: the remote monitoring system assisted me in managing my health on a day-to-day basis. The patients liked the technology largely because it provided empowerment and control for self-management and allowed them to continue with their lives without major disruption. These views were independent of the technology used and not associated with the patient’s long-term conditions, gender or age. There were no reported adverse incidents. CONCLUSION: As self-monitoring becomes more relevant to healthcare delivery, the technology will be accepted by many in the population with long-term conditions.