IPPOSI seeks to place itself at the forefront of any developments and innovations that can benefit patients. This includes Connected Health, which is an emerging field in healthcare that seeks to use technology and health information to improve patient outcomes. Connected Health Includes mobile health, telehealth, wearable technologies, health-related software, apps, and electronic care records, to name but a few elements of this a wide and varied sector.

IPPOSI is committed to exploring Connected Health opportunities for, and with, patients and we will continue to bring patient involvement opportunities to our members in this space.

Connected Health also forms part of the overall policy area of ‘Health Information’, an area which IPPOSI has prioritized for a number of years .

The IPPOSI CEO, Derick Mitchell is a member of the Management Board of the EU COST Action on Connected Health Research (ENJECT). ENJECT is a four year research co-ordination programme that focuses on a new technology-enabled model of healthcare delivery and encompasses terms such as wireless, digital, electronic, mobile, and tele-health. For further information, go here.

In November 2014 IPPOSI hosted a day-long conference titled ‘Connected Health & Me: The Patient Perspective’. The event was held in Dublin Castle and featured Minister for Health Leo Varadkar as the keynote speaker on Connected Health that featured world-class speakers on the topic including:

  • ePatient Dave (Ted Talks)
  • Professor George Crooks (NHS Scotland)
  • Professor Brian Caulfield, UCD

The conference also included a ‘health hack’ where five patient teams paired up with connected health researchers to try and develop technology solutions that were relevant to their condition area. Each team began with a presentation in the morning session and after lunch all attending delegates were invited to join a team of their own choosing to contribute to developing a solution in any way they saw fit.

You can see the videos and presentations from the event here:

Just as IPPOSI is committed to facilitating access to new treatments, we are committed to educating patients on the value of taking their treatments and medicines correctly – indeed, Connected Health is a seen as a potential solution for compliance/adherence. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), when long-term medicine is prescribed, approximately 50% of patients fail to adhere to the prescribed regimen.

In 2013, adherence was the theme of our Annual Round Table Meeting with the Secretary General of the Department of Health.