Policy and Telehealth: Social Implications of Telehealth and Telecare Technologies

A significant change in the UK health policies can be traced over the last decade, as a shift from medicine to health, with an emphasis on the well-informed population taking an active part in maintaining health and implying a changing role for the National Health Services (NHS). Telehealth is seen having potential as a facilitator of these changes, enabling health services to be brought to communities and into homes. This paper questions such a benign vision of telehealth and points out social problems that may arise on the introduction of telehealth services.