European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes has awarded prizes to eHealth SMEs from Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland and United Kingdom as part of eHealth Week 2013 in Dublin, Ireland.

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

A new site has been recently launched as part of the European FP7 ‘Personal Health Systems (PHS) Foresight’ project with the objective to provide a forum for long-term coordination and strategic guidance across different PHS areas of application.

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.

The University Hospital Virgen del Rocío of Sevilla is participating in PROCUR@, a research project on telerehabilitation for post-stroke patients. The study is financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and it is supported by the European Regional Development Fund.

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.

The Professional Association of Children’s and Young People’s Physicians aims to develop a Bavaria-wide telemedicine system that will enable pediatricians to connect online with experts, such as rheumatologists, cardiologists, pulmonologists, neurologists, hematologists and immunologists.

In Finland, the 'Telestroke Network' offers assistance to hospitals that have to treat stroke patients but cannot provide a neurologist at night and on weekend.

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.

The Ministry of Health and Care Services (Helse- og omsorgsdepartementet, in Norwegian) is conducting a public consultation for a new white paper on eHealth in Norway. Input can be submitted through a blog which will remain open until 1 June 2012.

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.

An online NHS Mobile Working Knowledge Centre has been launched to help the NHS make better use of mobile technology.