Telemedicine - or 'e-health' - harnessing modern and emerging technologies to provide better patient care and a more efficient use of resources, is an important part of the Health Service's future plans.

It's already in use here - an information link between Noble's and the Women's Hospital in Liverpool means that foetal abnormailities can be diagnosed much more quickly than having to send an expectant mum to Merseyside to be seen by a specialist.

It's an area that the Isle of Man has taken a strong lead in - telemedicine is our 'specialist subject' within the British-Irish Council.

Chairman of the BIC working group, Paul Harper (picured), Director of the DHSS's Strategic Information Development Directorate, says it's especially useful for island communities like ours: