It won't be long before patients are able to pop into a conferencing booth in their town or village rather than having to travel to see a specialist or even a GP, if companies such as network equipment giant Cisco are to be believed.
Although technology to allow remote diagnosis has been around since the 1920s, the prospect of high-quality telemedicine for the masses has meant the idea has attracted much more attention recently. Providers of the business-to-business videoconferencing technology known as telepresence claim the system has real applications in healthcare.
The theory behind telepresence is that it should create a conferencing experience so intimate, participants feel like they are in the same room as the people they are speaking to. Conferences take place in a purpose-built room where participants can see each other in life-size images on huge (typically 65-inch) high-definition plasma screens.
Telepresence rooms are usually built with the highest-quality audio and video, which is optimised for the room in question. However, the technology does not come cheap. Cisco's three-screen offering costs $300,000 (£150,000).
Most of the major networking vendors now have telepresence systems, and leaders in the health sector are starting to pick up on the benefits telepresence might bring to sparsely populated areas where qualified doctors may be some distance away.
Scottish leadership
Working in one of those areas, the Grampian region of north-east Scotland, the Scottish Centre for Telehealth (SCT) is using a telepresence system from Cisco tailored specifically for healthcare.
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Known as "HealthPresence", the system consists of a small telepresence room, or "pod". The pod differs from the sort of telepresence room you might find in a business, in that it contains a range of medical equipment and a handheld camera. The medical equipment includes a vital signs monitor (which measures blood pressure, pulse rate, oxygen saturation and temperature), stethoscope and otoscope (for examining the ear).
The medical professional manning the booth sets up the conference call with the appropriate doctor and uses the medical equipment on the patient as directed. The equipment then sends the data and images gathered over the conferencing link in real-time to the doctor. The camera can be used to show the doctor close-up images of parts of the body. The detail is good enough to accurately diagnose eye, ear and skin problems in many cases, the SCT claims.
The SCT has installed the HealthPresence pod at the Royal Infirmary hospital in Aberdeen to evaluate whether accurate diagnoses can be given. For the time being, the pod is located along the corridor from the main A&E department at the hospital, in case there is an urgent problem. If the evaluation is successful, the pod will be relocated into another hospital some distance away.
The SCT has grand plans for HealthPresence. "In 10 years' time, we would like this to be ubiquitous and the standard method of treatment," says Gordon Peterkin, head of the SCT. "It will improve care significantly over time."
The organisation has been using videoconferencing for treating patients since the turn of the Millennium. It runs regular neurology, cardiology and dermatology consultations...
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