Frances Mair

Frances Mair is Professor of Primary Care Research at the University of Glasgow. Her main research interests include e-health and telehealthcare. She has a particular interest in using new technologies as tools in health care provision, particularly with the aim of optimising the care provided to those in the community suffering from chronic illness.

Her research in e-health focuses upon studies of complex interventions, chronic disease management, implementation and sustainability issues and systematic literature reviews.

Frances Mair is president of the Royal Society of Medicine's Telemedicine and E-health Forum and a member of the Royal Society working group exploring the impact of information and communication technologies on health and healthcare. She is associate editor of the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare.

Synopsis

Telehealthcare: Current Role and Future Challenges

The possibilities that telehealthcare presents to health care systems; practitioners, carers, and patients are considerable. Policymakers internationally, are increasingly interested in the potential role of telehealthcare for delivery of health services. This is often because they are seen to have the potential to reduce health care costs by improving efficiencies in healthcare systems, and to reduce inequalities in care provision. Importantly, telehealthcare is also advocated as a way to empower patients by acting as a means to promote self care and this fits well with moves towards more "patient centred" care. In this presentation, the current status of telehealthcare will be discussed and challenges to more widespread implementation and utilisation highlighted.