Case study from Heart Failure Policy Toolkit

Telemonitoring to help improve quality of life for people with heart failure

29 September, 2015

Heartcycle is an EU-funded project that develops integrated telemonitoring systems to measure and monitor vital signs in people with heart failure and coronary heart disease.

The project seeks to improve the monitoring of people with heart failure in two ways:

  1. To encourage patient self-monitoring at home to empower patients and increase adherence to treatment
  2. To allow healthcare staff to monitor people’s health status for any signs of worsening of the condition.

People with heart failure receive the tool to measure health status and vital signs at home and are given motivating feedback on progress and effectiveness. This engagement of people in their own care aims to empower them and improve adherence to treatment.

The information is automatically reported to the healthcare team at the hospital, who will receive alerts in case of a potential deterioration of the person’s health status.

What has it achieved?

Although the results have yet to be published, the project ended in September 2013 and has reportedly achieved its primary goals. Its activities included:

  • research on what is needed in telemonitoring for people with heart failure and coronary heart disease
  • conceptualisation and development of the Heartcycle technology and monitoring system
  • clinical trials to test the system
  • analysis of results.

Links, references and key reading

http://www.heartcycle.eu

Back to the Project
The Heart Failure Policy Network is an independent, multidisciplinary platform made possible with financial support from AstraZeneca and Roche Diagnostics. The content produced by the Network is not biased toward any specific treatment or therapy. All outputs are guided and endorsed by the Network’s members. All members provide their time for free. The Network is hosted by The Health Policy Partnership .