AN NHS trust is having to pay GPs to push forward a pioneering healthcare scheme that the Health Minister has heralded, claiming it could transform the lives of three million patients.

In early 2010, NHS North Yorkshire and York spent £3.2m on 2,000 telehealth units, which it aimed to place in patients’ homes to monitor their vital signs, as part of a drive to cut hospital costs by reducing emergency admissions.

The telephone-size devices enable patients with chronic conditions to live at home through manned phone lines, bed sensors and a self-reporting test system.

The units automatically send readings, such as pulse rates, blood pressure and oxygen levels, to a monitoring centre where abnormal readings are identified.

The primary care trust (PCT) had expected to save £3.4m by last April, with 1,500 of the units in use.

But by last June only 350 of the 2,000 units had been used, saving the system £196,000 – six per cent of its predicted sum.

A PCT spokeswoman said it was facing a challenge to get GPs to sign up, so it had decided to offer them incentives.

GPs will be paid £200 to install the service in their practices and £50 to install a device in a patient’s home.

She said GPs were being paid for their work to refer patients who are suitable for telehealth devices and that the PCT had bought 2,000 devices as there were 50,000 chronically ill people in the county.

But Boroughbridge GP Dr John Crompton, chairman of North Yorkshire Local Medical Committee, said it had concerns over the PCT’s evidence base for buying “such a large number of units”.

Dr Paul Cundy, chairman of the General Practioners Committee’s information technology panel, said GPs remained unconvinced by the benefits of telehealth. He said low take-up by practices in the largest telehealth scheme outside the national pilot could force the Department of Health to reconsider the initiative.

However, launching the Three Million Lives campaign on Thursday, Health Minister Paul Burstow claimed the initiative would improve the quality of care, increase independence and dignity and cut time spent in hospital.