New evidence based pharmacy service connecting customers with reliable video and text explaining their medicines. This improves medicine compliance and patient safety, leading to better health.
Taking your medicine as directed by your Doctor is essential to your overall health, unfortunately for whatever reason, a large percentage of people do not take their medicines as directed. The figures for medicine compliance are:
1. Less than 50% of patients are taking their medicine correctly according to the World Health Organisation (WHO 2003).
2. The cost of non-compliance in the EU each year is €125 Billion and over 200,000 premature deaths , according to the European Council Policy Makers Debate in 2010 (EU 2010).
3. 20% of the Irish health budget is accounted by poor health literacy (€15Billion). This enormous figure is largely preventable. This money could be put to better use elsewhere in the health service such as addressing long waiting lists (HSE 2013).
There is the potential to save a lot of money for the health service by tackling health literacy. From our study, we demonstrated that the patients who engaged with the telehealth service increased their medicine compliance by 70%, and 80% reported their health had improved as a result of improving their knowledge of their medicines.
When a patient increases their medicine compliance, this has clear benefits for the patients and society alike:
Patient Benefits:
1. Increase in medicine compliance by 70%,
2. Increase in patient safety,
3. Increase in Patient medicine consultation from 10% to 100% (Chen, 2000).
4. Increase in health literacy,
5. Increase in Patient’s health outcomes,
6. Increase in patient’s quality of life,
7. Save money for patients by decreasing unnecessary health related costs.
8. Live online support from our virtual pharmacist.
So, The best thing a person can do to improve their overall health is to get informed, and that’s where our new “telehealth service” comes into its own. We facilitate and provide this in a streamlined fashion using information that is direct and easy to understand, with no confusing medical jargon so customers can take away as much as they need to know in order to make more informed decisions about their healthcare – that is Telehealth’s ultimate goal. Stay healthier, longer.
- World Health Organization 2003. Adherence to long-term therapies: Evidence for action. http:// www.who.int/chp/knowledge/publications/adherence_report/en/ Last accessed January 2014.
- European Council Policy makers Debate. An EU response to medication non-adherence. Brussels, 2010.
- www.healthpromotion.ie/hp-files/docs/HSE_NALA_Health_Audit .pdf (Accessed 13th September 2016).
- Chen, J.;Britten, N. 'Strong Medicine': an analysis of pharmacists consultations in primary care. Family practice, 2000.
