Telemonitoring or structured telephone support for people with chronic heart failure reduces CHF-related hospital admissions; telemonitoring also reduces all-cause mortality.

Chronic heart failure is common. Management is complex, and patients require regular professional monitoring and follow-up as well as support for self-care. There is good evidence for disease-management programmes through home or clinic visits,1 and such programmes are recommended in international guidelines.2 However, heart failure predominately affects the older people, and their limited mobility and lack of social support may make hospital clinic attendance problematic. Home visits may bridge this gap but are costly in terms of travel time for the health professional thus limiting the case load that a specialist heart failure nurse can take on. This has led to an interest in remote patient monitoring and the need to establish its benefi t more clearly.3