Setting up a store-and-forward telemedicine service for acute trauma in a hospital trust.

Telemedicine is a valuable, but as yet underused, resource for the delivery of health-care to patients. This paper describes the development of a new store-and-forward telemedicine service at the Queen Victoria Hospital, which is a tertiary referral centre for plastic surgery in the United Kingdom. The practical requirements of such a system, and the technical and legal difficulties experienced during the initial stages, are also discussed.