In the autumn of 2011, the Department of Health in England unveiled the staggering results of the Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) project, the world's largest telehealth programme trial. These results saw a 20% fall in hospital admissions. More recently, the findings have been questioned, as happened to a similar programme in Germany. Meanwhile, the evidence for nurse mentor-based chronic disease management programmes also remains tenuous. So are these really magic bullets? Or is it all bunk?