e-Health / telemedicine

Lead Administration – Isle of Man

At the Second British-Irish Council Summit meeting in November 2001, it was agreed that the Isle of Man would take the lead on and progress work in the area of health, in particular, the application of telemedicine, i.e. the remote diagnosis and treatment of patients by the use of telecommunications technology.

The Isle of Man, in consultation with other Member Administrations, considered a number of key issues related to telemedicine within the British-Irish Council. Officials met frequently to exchange information on developments and best practice in this developing area.

In May 2005, the Isle of Man hosted a BIC Summit focusing on telemedicine and its potential to modernise the delivery of health and social care. The Council noted that telemedicine offers a unique way to address issues facing all BIC Member Administrations, including in delivering health and social care to rural and remote communities.  The group continued to meet at official level to take forward the recommendations of the Summit. Work focused on addressing issues relating to interoperable technical standards, a relevant clinical governance framework, appropriate protocols for the secure electronic exchange of confidential data, and quality standards for telemedicine and e-health information on the internet. The application of information technology in healthcare has continued to develop since the group’s inception in 2002 and has become internationally recognised and understood as a component of the wider topic of e-health. Accordingly, the BIC Summit in London in June 2006 approved a proposal to change the name of the group from Telemedicine to e-Health.

Following international developments in the field of e-Health and the European Union (EU) became increasingly active in this are, the EU began to look at the work of the BIC. In 2008, the Council, agreed that the work of the group had been largely superseded by that of the EU and that this work sector should be brought to a close.