Telematics for healthcare. The ACTION project

Within the European Community, the elderly community is growing, and consequently there has been a significant increase in the need for the provision of assistance to carers, with family carers in general playing a central role in most activities of informal care in the community. This type of care is based on a strong liaison between informal carers, the professionals and the frail, elderly or disabled person(s) who are the focus of care. Services like videoconferencing, multimedia information, bespoke programs can help the carers in their daily work. ACTION is a European funded project in healthcare telematics. The article describes recent telematics developments and gives a detailed overview of the ACTION project.