06/02/2017 Inside Out South East

Whatever happened to high-tech health care in the home?

It's a disaster for that family and the patient.

Someone now needs to step up and take ownership of this and say,

"I'm really sorry it has gone wrong, it was a trial, but

The veteran airmen on a mission for the Guinea Pig Club.

I hit the ground rather violently and this was an inferno.

And how to navigate your way through the winter months.

Winter is actually quite a fun time to do it.

We've got fewer leaves on the trees so we can look at some things

I'm Natalie Graham with untold stories closer to home,

from all around the south-east, this is Inside Out.

Hello and welcome to the programme, which this week comes

to you from a rather wet New Haven in East Sussex.

Now, no one likes staying in hospital if it can possibly be

avoided and a few years ago, the government backed

a new scheme called telehealth, designed to help people

Kent was at the forefront of that experiment,

Can you come and have a look a minute, please?

He's a former Lord Mayor of Canterbury.

When he was younger he ran marathons.

He was also a rugby player and boxer.

But these days he suffers multiple health problems.

He's covered in cuts and bruises from regular blackouts and falls.

He doesn't often move far from his armchair.

I got kicked in the head playing rugby and had two blood clots

on the brain and developed epilepsy from the heart.

I then had a couple of heart attacks and that followed

He fell unconscious while you are interviewing him and his wife.

I asked Betty how often that happens.

There are thousands of people like Pat in the south east -

in and out of hospital - with long-term conditions that put

But Kent was one of the first local authorities to

experiment with a high-tech solution - telehealth.

Telehealth is a system, first developed in America,

where patients use high-tech equipment at home to take

their own health readings, which can be monitored remotely.

What it allowed us to do was monitor patients on a daily basis

from our office or from where ever we were without having

The government was so enthusiaistic about telehealth that it launched

the Three Million Lives campaign, which aimed to get three

million people signed up to telehealth within five years.

And it apppinted Kent as a pathfinder authority,

because Kent had been operating a telehealth system since 2005.

So we are going to find out what happened to telehealth.

There were certainly high hopes back on.

We know that this saves money and improves lives.

We know it has fantastic potential benefits, reducing the number

of crisis admissions in hospital when everything goes

wrong, which happens to often at the moment.

But in the same year the NHS was reformed,

devolving power from large primary care trusts to smaller clinical

At the time, Roy Lilley, a former NHS trust chairman, sounded

He said it would only work on a large sale.

Because if you work as it is now, with a few local bits of kit that

get plugged in in some way or other to the local GP's surgery,

They were told to take Pat's vital readings every day,

to include blood pressure, blood sugars and oxygen levels.

These were relayed to a nursing team that monitored them remotely.

The whole system gave him a lot of confidence that

if he didn't feel well, put him on the machine

and he would know roughly what was wrong with him,

you know, whether it was the heart, the head or what.

Rather than being in hospital maybe three times a month,

it stretched it out to maybe once every three months and it made

To start with, Pat and Betty were very happy

It meant that despite Pat's severe health problems,

they felt they had the security that someone was watching.

But after a while, Pat and Betty noticed a change

in the telehalth service - to them it seemed the

If the readings that were going through to the listening station

were above or below his parameters, then somebody would

Or they'd ring me and say, 999, and then gradually this has gone

The visits have come down to the fact that

Betty became so concerned about the service that she started

Every month I took, I started taking a picture.

And were there are things that concerned you about his readings?

That you felt you should have got a phone call?

These are down in the threes, blood sugar.

Was Betty right to be concerned that she didn't get phone calls

from nurses when she thought perhaps she should have done?

We are not experts so we don't know, so I have taken some of those

readings and I am going to show them to somebody who might

Dr Lawrence is a GP and a reader in medicine at Warwick University.

He agreed to take a look at Betty's photographs.

We can see certainly as far as the BP is concerned

that there are times when it has been quite high and out

of a certain range, or quite low and I would expect

that there would be some kind of communication

What I'll do is I will ring Betty now and see if she did

I'm just looking at the BP readings from March of 2016.

Your husband's BP was around 105, 110 systolic.

If it is quite low, then it can reduce the flow of blood

to the brain and physiologically one will therefore feel dizzy

I would expect that you may have received a call at this time.

No, I haven't had any calls this year.

Dr Lawrence, what do you think about the fact that they didn't

So what has been happening with the Burke's telehealth service?

In 2013, the NHS was totally reformed.

Responsibility for telehealth switched from the Department

Kent County Council is no longer involved.

So with responsibility for telehealth now passed

on to the NHS, we contacted the Clinical Commissioning Group

We asked why Pat Burke didn't get calls from

the service in March last year and if the service has deteriorated.

The reply came from Kent community health NHS

Foundation Trust who run the service for South Kent coast CCG.

The Burkes told us that that's not the case and they hadn't

agreed that Pat should come off telehealth.

They also did not know about him being discharged. Betty said the

reason a nurse came out to see him in March is because she called the

service concerned about a bad cough he had at the time. We wanted to

know what had happened to tele- health. All be Kent CCG 's gave us a

joint statement. The Kent CCGs told us the telehealth

system has gone. They sent out letters to telehealth users but the

Burkes say they did not get the letter. Nothing has come to us. As

we heard earlier, Roy Lilley was sceptical four years ago about the

likely success of tele- health unless it's run on a big scale. He's

critical of way the bags have been treated. It's a disaster for the

reputation of tele- medicine and it's a disaster for the CCG and the

practice because they have to take over looking after these patients in

some other way. There is no failure regime when these things go wrong,

it was put in under the terms of being a trial. The trial has failed

now someone needs to step up and take ownership and say, I am sorry

it has gone wrong, but we will sort it out. I asked if there was any

prospect of the CCGs being able to prospect of the CCGs being able to

organise a telehealth system that organise a telehealth system that

works in the future. There are 212 telehealth CCGs in England. There

are far too many and they are far too small and they are occupied with

being avalanche with demand. Wherever tele- medicine was on the

list to do, it's hip to the bottom. It makes a life that I had vanished.

A way of life. It should not be taken away. It would be taken away.

I think that is wrong. While we were filming with Pat, he had an

epileptic fit which left him lying on the floor. In spite of his

long-term health problems, the Burkes want to stay in their own

home. They thought telehealth would be the answer, but at the moment, no

telehealth scheme is in place in Kent. Coming up: We bring you tips

on how to navigate your way through a winter wonderland. It's finding a

way using nature, the sun, the moon, the stars, even buildings.

Everything is a clue. He may be 95 years old but one that trend pilot

is on a final mission, to build a memorial to the airmen who are

seriously burned in the Second World War and to ensure we never forget

the members of the Guinea Pig Club. The 22nd of September was a very

important day of my life. By the end of the day, my life had changed. I

hit the ground violently and this was an inferno. I undid the straps,

the buckle, climbed over the starboard side of the aircraft and

fell to the ground and then I was unconscious again, woke up in

hospital. It was... Just a horrible feeling, like terror. You feel as if

you are going to die now. Where are you? I am up there. You

can tell from my hat. A trainee glider pilot

on a navigation exercise in Warwickshire when the plane's

engine stalled and it crashed. I was covered with aviation fuel and

I was on fire. I got horrid burns of my entire legs and my hands and my

face. He suffered 40% burns and in 1947,

was sent to a pioneering plastic I was referred to Archibald McIndoe.

He said I needed a further 14 operations, which gave me the face I

have now. McIndoe had been appointed

by the RAF to treat The Battle of Britain led to rising

numbers of young pilots By the end of the war, the majority

were from Bomber Command. McIndoe's patients became

known as his Guinea pigs because of the experimental plastic

surgery they had. He encouraged them to form

the so-called Guinea Pig By the end of the war,

it had 649 members. 75 years after the GPC was formed,

Sandy feels it's time the severely burned airmen should be given

a permanent tribute. With his wife Maggie,

they've come to see it taking shape at Graeme Mitcheson's

workshop in Leicestershire. You've got the drama. Yeah, quite

sharp flames here, thinning out to smoke at the top. It's catching that

drama of how the injuries were obtained. I commissioned this

memorial because if I hadn't done so, nobody else would. At East

Grinstead, Sir Archibald McIndoe needs 37 members of the day big

clubs. His hands have given new hands and faces to burned their men.

the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead.

It's still a leading centre for the treatment of burns injuries.

Welcome, gentlemen. Like Sandy, Roger Chaplin has also been treated

at East Grinstead. After crashing his private plane, he has had 70

operation so far. The guinea pig story gives him hope. It is quite an

inspiration. When you have a serious burn, you deal with the aftermath.

It is easy to get into a very low situation psychologically. To see

that they can come through that particular low and come out on the

other side and go out to have a decent and fulfilling life, it is

very uplifting. Sandy's mission to have a memorial is nearing

completion. He has managed to raise ?20,000 to pay for it. The edge

traces the profile of Archibald McIndoe's face. He is his face. His

hands touched me and now I am touching him. It doesn't half bring

back memories. The day of the back memories. The day of the

unveiling at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. The Duke

of Edinburgh became president of the Guinea Pig Club after McIndoe's

death. He is here to pay his respects alongside some of the loss

of bribing members of the club. It's very appropriate, I think. The

bottom bit and aircraft going down in flames. I am only a lightly

toasted one. It's overwhelming. Absolutely overwhelming. I think

he'd be slightly up at the extent to which 75 years after it was founded

and 56 years after his death that something of this nature can attract

such interest from around the world and nationally for something that

started in a little cottage hospital in Sussex all those years ago. I'm

very grateful to be able to live to see it on failed. I am glad I took

the initiative. Archibald McIndoe inspired Sandy to train as a doctor

after the war. He practised as a GP for 40 years. Now in his 90s, Sandy

has terminal cancer, but he has one more chance to fly in a Tiger Moth.

It just brings it all back. Yes. I wish I were young again.

Sandy has tracked the Himalayas, sailed the Atlantic and skied until

he was 82. He has led the full and active life that Archibald McIndoe

wanted his guinea pigs to lead. Now his final mission is complete. There

is a place where the injured their men will always be remembered.

It can't have escaped your notice that we are in the depths of winter,

but it's a good time to enjoy the great outdoors. As long as you know

how to find your way about. From its headlands to its beaches

and waterways, the South East of England is surely one of most

beautiful corners of the country. Perfect for a walk in

the crisp fresh air. But this is the time of year

where you probably want nothing more than to snuggle up indoors and see

out the cold weather and the long dark nights with a warm

drink and a good boxset. After all, in the dead of winter

you might think, quite reasonably, that there's nothing

of interest to see. The Natural Navigator,

AKA Tristan Gooley, is going to show me -

and my dog Boris - how to find our way around

the South East at this time of year, and why it's not so much bleak

mid-winter, it's more You are the natural navigator. Tell

me what that means. It's finding a week using nature. Using the sun,

moon, stars. We are going to go on a small adventure but first we need to

check the weather and see if there are clues to tell us what the

weather is going to be like today. Tristan has got me gazing up

to the skies to try to forecast the weather

by just using the clouds. It's a day of blue skies but not

perfect blue skies. Can you see these wispy, very high clouds? There

is a vertical ones, striped? Yes, they are tailing away and that can

be a sign that the weather is going to change. It is not a caste guy

cast-iron guarantee. -- cast-iron guarantee. It's a sign that says

don't assume is good weather will last forever. Let's make the most of

it. The one thing I lead in the guide is if you are lost in the

woods, look for the moss growing on the side of the tree and that will

take you which way is North. That is what everybody thinks, but Moss is

one of the most unreliable indicators. All it tells us is that

there is moisture. There is something here which makes a

fantastic compass. This gold colour here. It's a beautiful light can,

one of my favourites and it loves light. When it gets lots of

sunlight, it turns gold and we get most of our light from the South so

the more cold it gets, that tells us which way self is. -- old. One of

these birches, it's a good sign if you think you are lost because they

tend to grow at the outer edges of a woodland. It did not take me long to

notice some of the other clues for myself. Look, that is a colour

compass. Yes! Can you see just here we have got what looks like hair

lichen again and it loves fresh air lichen again and it loves fresh air

so it is telling us we are in our own little patch of wilderness.

Telling us the countryside is clean. It's fascinating getting to decipher

some of the secrets the natural world has to offer. Can you see the

lines in the sky there. Are they from planes? Yes, we didn't see any

of that earlier and suddenly we are seeing these lines spreading out and

staying out in the sky. It's not a good sign. It means the air is

getting moister which means they weather is probably turning. It's

the end of day one of our mini adventure and Boris and I have

enjoyed a woodland walk. Let's hope the weather holds for the next leg.

The following day the winter sun had been replaced by wind and rain.

Boris decided to take a rain check and stay in his basket by the fire

at home while Tristan and I hit Camber Sands. It's pretty cold and

windy today. At least we have the windy today. At least we have the

beach to ourselves. Yes, in amongst these doings, can you see how they

have been swept over by the wind and our prevailing wind comes from the

south-west so the south-west must be south-west so the south-west must be

out there somewhere. Let's see what the water is like. We have some

ripples here but they have flat tops and that's a sign the water has

flowed quickly one way and then quickly back the other way. But

actually the wonderful thing is this is a work of art and nobody will

ever see anything exactly the same as this ever again. It is lovely.

Shall we get an ice cream? We left the seaside and travelled to ride

but can you try your hand at natural navigation in a town? And if you

thought Tristan's use of lichen is a makeshift compass was inventive, you

nice compass up here I would like to nice compass up here I would like to

show you. This is it, your giant compass. Churches can be brilliant

compasses. The alignment, churches are online from west to east with

the altar at the eastern end. The auto traditionally would be in the

direction of the holy land. Tradition means the church would be

a line towards sunrise on the feast Day of the Saint that the churches

Church and I believe the day in Church and I believe the day in

question is August 15 and the sun rises north of East in August, so we

north of East. The graves face a north of East. The graves face a

certain direction because of the beliefs of those who are buried in

them. Gravestones will be at the Western end and the feet of the

person buried will be at the eastern end. On the day of judgment when the

dead shall rise, they should be facing the holy land. If you are

ever struggling to find your way in the centre of a town, find a church.

They will give you a good sense of direction. If you can pull yourself

away from your scented candles and socks, there is much to see at this

time of year. Let's not forget about using the church as a giant compass.

Surely this proves that we really do live in a winter wonderland.

For more information about the programme, you can go to our pages

on the BBC News website. You can watch the programme again on BBC

iPlayer. Next week: The fisher men who are abusing drugs in the English

Channel. That's what we have to live with, you have gone from being a

good fisherman, strong, great man to a druggie. An organ donors who have

their final wishes overruled. If someone has taken the time and

effort to express their wishes by carrying a donor card, no one should

have the right to overwrite that wish. That's all from us tonight.

Hello, I'm Riz Lateef with your 90-second update.

Overcrowded - the number of patients on wards in England have been

at unsafe levels in nine out of ten hospitals this winter.