A clinical and business plan examined five areas in which telemedicine could be introduced to support the strategic objectives of a large health authority: coronary heart disease; links between community hospitals and local care centres and acute hospitals; store-and-forward consultations; care in the community; and mental health. The plan identified substantial clinical, organizational and economic potential benefits, which were greatest when a radical re-engineering of the service was envisaged. Similar studies in other health districts would help to test these conclusions and inform future health service planning.
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