Integrated system for long distance psychiatric assistance and non-conventional distributed health services

The need for health services have recently increased because of the ageing in Europe and the other industrialized regions as well as quality expectancies of the citizens´ health services. Demographic factors and technological progress leads to higher costs for health services, but at the same time, there is a need for cost reduction because of the lower public budgets. In facing this reality, the European Union has funded the ISLANDS, a QoL (quality of life) project (2002). The ISLANDS joins the research groups (UPM, ICCS, COAT-Basel, University of Innsbruck, Charles University of Prague), companies and industry (Fundacion Vodafonc, TRUTh, Interaxon, MMU), and end users (Servicio Canario de Ia Salud, University Hospital Fort-de-France, Kratiko Therapeutirio Lerou) to build a platform that aims to deliver long distance psychiatric services.