Updated: Aug 26, 1998
This is the most recent structured information on this project. Complementary data can be found on previous documents
HEALTHWATCH Healthcare database

Overview

1. . The Healthwatch project commenced on 1 September 1997, with four partners from UK, France, Spain and Italy. The Consortium had been drawn up with the respective skills of the Partners in mind and covered market research in the health IT field, computer services and consultancy .

2. During the period under review, the Consortium have achieved all the targets set in the Technical Annex and took the decision to enhance the final product by including an electronic version of the questionnaire and analyses on the Web in five languages.
   The Consortium took the view that it would be possible to use emerging Web enabling technologies to improve the Healthwatch database build and the eventual dissemination of the results. Close co-operation between the Romtec technical staff and the Webmaster at the European Health Telematics Observatory has resulted in the development of a unique database with the prospect of becoming a world wide facility for use in the healthcare sector.

3. . The database and other information has been publicly available since the beginning of July 1997; it is being populated on a gradual basis as the number of interviews proceeds. The interviewing stage will finish at the end of October 1997 when some 500 records will have been put on the database.

4. . An Awareness Programme has commenced and the Consortium is actively submitting papers to major international and national conferences to increase the knowledge of the database and its benefits to the various sectors in healthcare. Support for the continuation of the work on building the database is being sought from a number of sources including the Commission, Industry Associations and other commercial concerns such as telecommunications suppliers and pharmaceutical companies. The Consortium are of the opinion that the database will be of greater value if it is current and contains a wider range of data.

Purpose and objectives

1. To identify projects in the healthcare sector of the European Union which are either making extensive use of telematics, or demonstrate an innovative use of telematics. These projects will involve some degree of networking and/or distributed processing, either at an enterprise or wide-area basis. Standalone devices would not be included unless there was an intention to network those devices within the timeframe of the project.
2. to devise and test a methodology which evaluates the benefits of those projects to a range of parties including patients, public administrations, healthcare professionals and the telematics industry.
3. To produce a database of evaluated projects which will assist contractors within the Telematics Programme identify expertise and demonstration sites, and also assist the Commission in the administration of the Telematics Application Programme.

• Both public and private sector investment would be included
• This investment would include capital equipment software and running costs but not staff costs unless specially recruited for the telematics aspects of the system.