If proof of the persuasive power of simple headlines was ever needed then this morning’s health news on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme would stand as a classic example.

The message that life expectancy has doubled over the last 100 years was hardly newsworthy but the headline caught the media’s imagination -  more than half of all those people born this year might reasonably expect to live beyond 100 years.  More birthday telegrams from the Queen – although, logically, that might rather suppose an extraordinary life expectancy in our royal family !

The message was given positive treatment - and in large part attributed to progress in the positive treatment of all manner of ailments.  Experts were called to testify to the enduring trend and observe that further life-enhancing progress would be focused on the healthcare management of older people because ‘we have pretty much dealt with’ the problems of infant mortality.

It was, on yet another routine day of dismay and despair, a ‘good news’ story – and there is no doubt that the level of public awareness of lifetime expectations needs to be raised. 

Getting this simple point across the breakfast table and into the half-listening minds of the populace is an essential first step if we are ever to have a proper debate about how the nation will cope with more than half its citizens expecting comfortable retirement, well-funded pensions and ever-better healthcare for their increasingly aged bodies.

This challenge, the future affordability of healthcare, is what keeps health professionals (and politicians) awake at night trying to run up the down escalators of nightmares - diminishing tax revenues from a dwindling productive population needing to support an ever larger army of people needing more (and more expensive) care.

If we are to believe the logic of the maths then at some point we end up with every school leaver having to work in healthcare – unless, of course, we change the way we do things.   And that is the point of Connected Health.

Part of the healthcare challenge can be alleviated by reducing demand – adopting lifestyles and fitness regimes in a shift towards wellness.  The smoking ban and sensible eating are classic examples.   Part of the challenge may be answered by better treatments – new drugs, new surgical methods, new interventions.  But that still leaves the bulk of the challenge to be answered – and it is here that we need to work out how health and social care can be managed much more efficiently whilst still improving the quality of delivery.

This may only gradually be dawning on the general public but healthcare professionals have been worrying about it for years – and they think they may have some of the answers.   Much, however, depends on the successful outcomes of current research and political will.

In truth our health and well-being is a journey along a path that stretches from occasional medical interventions to self-care – with many opportunities along the way to help ourselves. 

Connected Health is the general name for the tools, techniques and systems on this pathway that can make life easier for ourselves, our families, our doctors, and our carers. 

Everyone’s needs are different.  Some may need a simple fall monitor or a panic button.  Others may need to monitor their heart-rate or blood pressure or blood sugar level.  But for effective healthcare delivery, that information needs somehow to be shared with others and not be overlooked.   There is no shortage of clever technology – the big question is how and when to deploy it.       

The UK’s ‘whole system demonstrators’ – a name surely devised by experts to obscure meaning – is one of the world’s largest investigations into the effectiveness and costs of Connected Health.   In three parts of the UK, Cornwall, Kent and the London Borough of Newham, trials are underway in a tightly controlled experiment to find out what works and how the information can best be managed.

If you have a ‘continuum’ where health and social care are on the same path then the first challenge in this sort of project is to deal with the awkward legacy of different budgets, different managements and different political masters  Even when you’ve achieved that commonality of purpose you still have to allow for different public perceptions.  

If you get a letter from your doctor asking if you will join a trial for some new healthcare treatment – and it will involve sharing your medical information with others – you may be more than likely to agree.  If, on the other hand, you get a letter from the Department of Work and Pensions along the same lines the chances are that you will assume that your ‘benefits’ and care are being reviewed (and most likely cut) and their invitation will end up in the bin.

So it was not surprising that to get 6,000 trial participants (of whom only half actually get the new services whilst the others act as a control group) it was necessary to invite 30,000 of those who were selected from our country’s 15 million chronically ill adults and those in need of care.

The results of this study will not be available until the early part of 2011 – and will have involved tens of millions of pounds spent not just on the remote monitoring equipment and services but on a fairly intensive study of all the outcomes. 

Managing changes in the way we do things is always a complex and uncertain business.  To cope with the massive transformation of Health & Social care needed to meet our future expectations it will be necessary for everyone to understand the need for change.  Doctors will need to be convinced of the efficacy of new delivery systems – and citizens (and their families) everywhere will need to understand the need to adopt healthier lifestyles.

If today’s Today feature on older age has the effect of getting more people to start thinking about where we are heading then it really will turn out to have been a good news story.

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The author is a founder and director of The European Connected Health Campus.  www.echcampus.com 

 An abstract of the original research published in The Lancet can be found at:  http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)61460-4/abstract