For patients with heart failure (among other conditions) there is the possibility of managing their monitoring and support without the need for multiple appointments. This is partly facilitated by the availability of remote monitoring technologies, but also requires coordinated and personalised care. 

A national pilot was designed by the NHS in England to assess the impacts of implementing this ‘at home’ approach. The pilot involved implementation in ten areas, with the participation of primary and secondary care providers and commissioners.

The pilot sites recorded data on three PROMs measures, to assess the impact on the experience of patents, and also on the use of health care resources to identify whether the pilot had affected patients’ need to visit primary care, outpatients, emergency and secondary care services.

The results of the pilot were reported nationally and these are being fed into plans for extending the use of remote care in heart failure as well as applying it to other conditions.