Tunstall has been named telehealth/telecare provider of the year in the UK ahead of rivals that included mobile operator O2’s health unit. Other runners up included Bosch, Philips, Telehealth Solutions and GE Home Healthcare.

The award was in recognition of Tunstall’s work on a particular telehealth deployment with the NHS Halton and St Helens Division of Bridgewater Community Health Services. The prize was given at the HealthInvestor Awards UK.

According to the prizegiving, Tunstall’s deployment reduced hospital admissions by 30 percent and also delivered “substantial” cost savings. However, a report by the Nuffield Trust described the potential savings from a recent large scale telehealth trial in the UK as “modest”.

O2 is pushing hard to win business in the healthcare market and was the only mobile operator on the shortlist for the award.  Many telehealth services are delivered over broadband networks while O2 uses a cellular-based approach.