Articles by Will Peakin
Elderly patients provided with telehealth equipment were three times more likely to die than those receiving traditional care, a US study has found.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic and the Purdue University School of Industrial Engineering observed mortality rates that were three times higher in elderly patients with multiple health issues who were provided with telehealth base stations and monitoring equipment, compared with those receiving ‘patient-driven’ care.
According to a paper published in the US Archives of Internal Medicine, 14.7 per cent of those remotely monitored died within 12 months of being enrolled in the study, while just 3.9 per cent in the control group died.
The researchers were unable to explain the differences, but suggested it could be because of an increased number of interventions and tests in the telehealth group.
The paper said: “The difference in mortality between the two groups could be due to the lowerthan- expected mortality among the ‘usual care’ group or could represent higher mortality among the telemonitoring group because of increased access to healthcare that occurred with telemonitoring.’ “For example, the performance of unnecessary tests could have resulted in increased mortality among the telemonitoring group.”
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Sterling’s silver lining Grim though it may have been, the news at the end of last month that the UK had slipped back into recession did not dent its standing internationally. In the last week of April, sterling hit its highest level in nearly two years against the euro as a ratings downgrade of Spain reignited fears over problems about the eurozone’s worst-indebted economies pressuring the common currency. Although concerns remained about the fragility of the British economy, analysts said sterling was still favoured as an alternative to the troubled euro and could gain further. The pound performed well in the days after Bank of England minutes were published suggesting that it was unlikely to opt for more quantitative easing due to worries that inflation may not be falling as [...]
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The turnaround of STV underlines Scotland’s resurgent creative sector Rob Woodward recalls it as a “near death experience”. At the beginning of 2007 he had been appointed chief executive of SMG, the then owners of STV, Virgin Radio and assorted media businesses. The company was floundering under what was described at the time as “a weak strategy, weakly executed – leading to excess debt, a lack of focus, instability in the leadership, dissatisfaction amongst the shareholders and poor staff morale”. For years it had been on a spending spree, paying top dollar for high profile companies whose growth potential was badly misjudged. It had already been forced to sell its newspaper division, including The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times. Traditional business models were crumbling as the internet captured the [...]
