The savings from telehealth, which can cover both mobile and fixed links to a patient, “isn’t as good as you might think” according to Stephen Johnson, the deputy director of long term conditions at the UK’s Department of Health, speaking at the Telehealth 2012 conference in London.

Johnson put a figure of “about £188 a year per patient” on the saving from deploying telehealth, according to a report on Government Computing.  Patients with long-term conditions are the target market for supporters of telehealth services.

Johnson echoed a number of other speakers who called for more evidence about the cost effectiveness of telehealth, in addition to the Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) programme which has been running in the UK and has delivered some evidence for decision makers about telehealth.