Experts from across Northern Ireland gathered during the second week of April 2013 to mark the success of the Telemonitoring NI service.

The seventh edition of the eHealth Week will take place on 13-15 May at the Convention Centre in Dublin under the title ‘Innovative Healthcare & Well-being’. It will present the views and ideas of the world’s health IT experts and showcase cutting-edge health ICT.

NHS Somerset (in South-West England) is planning to monitor the symptoms of 4 000 people living with long-term conditions over the next three years (2012-2015), using a mobile healthcare system.

Telemedicine project ‘My Heart’ is to become operational in the town of Bad Oyenhausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, aiming to provide homecare to patients with a left-sided heart failure. All relevant data will be transmitted through a telephone line to the doctors.

The Mediterranean Institute for Transplantation and High Specialisation Therapies (ISMETT, in Italian) has recently launched a tele-health monitoring project for 30 Sicilian liver transplant patients during the post-transplant follow-up period.

According to a new study from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (IPTS), Denmark, England and Scotland have been pioneers in the use of electronic communication in and across the health and social care sectors, as they have been able to integrate telehealth into standard patient treatments.

In the Netherlands the Melanoma Foundation has created a smartphone app named 'Huidmonitor' (Skin monitor, in Dutch) to easily check suspicious moles and spots on one's skin.  

The University Hospital Virgen Macarena of Seville and the Superior Engineering School of Seville University are jointly carrying out a new research project for the implementation of a complete telecare system for kidney patients.

A pioneering telemedicine project for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has recently been launched in a hospital in central France to assess the impact of readmissions due to COPD exacerbations.

Two days ago [29 February 2012] the European Commission endorsed a communication that defines a four-year action plan for the 'European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Active and Healthy Ageing'.

The 'Telecoma' telemedicine project is being launched in the Campania region (southern Italy) with the aim to provide homecare assistance for vegetative state and brain-damaged patients.

The use of free and open source software is not yet very common in Europe's healthcare organisations, says Thomas Karopka, chair of the International Medical Informatics Association. However, several online and offline networks of healthcare specialists interested in this type of software are slowly becoming stronger.

On 22 December 2011, the European Commission adopted a decision establishing an eHealth Network, marking the first time that EU legislation includes provisions on eHealth with clear
objectives to find modern, innovative solutions for providing better and safer healthcare for all Europeans.

Minister of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety Edwin Poots, has launched a remote telemonitoring healthcare system which will be used by up to 20 000 patients across Northern Ireland. It aims to improve health outcomes for patients with long-term conditions through better engagement with clinicians and enhanced self-management.

The EU-funded research project named iStoppFalls (ICT based System to Predict and Prevent Falls) started on 1 October 2011.