Accenture has been working with the health authorities in Spain’s Basque Country to reduce the costs associated with caring for people with chronic diseases through technology developed for Microsoft’s Xbox games console.

The IT services giant is supporting the implementation of a remote monitoring and interactive system called Teki which works with Xbox.

Patients with chronic diseases such as arthritis, asthma, and diabetes account for 80% of patient interactions with the public healthcare system, which takes up 77% of the total healthcare budget.

The Teki telehealth system aims to reduce costs by enabling consultations to be carried out with a patient at their own home when the system, via the Xbox, is connected to the patient's TV.

Teki also enables medical staff to remotely monitor the patient's health, give dietary advice and prescribe medicine.

“For instance, if a regime of exercise is prescribed to a patient, Teki can help ensure it is done properly,” said Aimie Chapple, managing director for Accenture’s health business in the UK.

Benefits could be replicated in the NHS “The Basque initiative, which could be replicated in England, would not only save health authorities billions of pounds a year, but would enable a better quality of care for older patients and more effective monitoring of their health," said Chapple. "In the process, it would free up more resources in the acute sector, which is likely to see growing demand for its services as the population gets older. “Crucial infrastructure such as single patient records, which can be shared between medical professionals regardless of their location, is already in place and can support the type of remote monitoring and interaction with patients practiced in the Basque Country," she added. “For the English healthcare system it's a case of focusing on the most expensive patients afflicted with multiple chronic conditions in way that is more cost-effective while ensuring the highest levels of care. "Following the example of the Basque Country would enable the establishment of systems to predict which patients will drive future costs and allow health authorities to co-ordinate home-based care and manage individual cases and not just their illnesses.”