NHS England figures show mixed picture on elective recovery  NHS England has published figures showing that very long waits for elective treatment are coming down. The number of people waiting more than two years fell by 6,500 between February and March, while more than 30,000 people started treatment for cancer; the second highest number on record. Despite this, pressure on the NHS continues. April was the busiest April on record for 999 calls answered (860,414) and life-threating ambulance call outs (78,582) and the second busiest April for A&E attendances (more than two million, with 480,000 admissions). The total waiting list has grown again, to 6.36 million.

Survey shows drop in satisfaction with the Scottish NHS  Scottish health secretary Humza Yousaf has warned that NHS recovery will take years, rather than months, in response to the annual Health and Care Experience Survey, which recorded a drop in satisfaction with the service and with access to GPs in particular (BBC News). Overall, 67% of respondents put a positive rating on their experience of the health service; down 23% on the first survey in 2009. But just 37% of patients saw their GP face to face last year, while 57% had a telephone consultation. Scotland has a £1 billion NHS Recovery Plan, with the restoration to face services one of its commitments.

National health tech leaders named  Two leaders have been named to lead the digital policy and strategy teams at the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, following the widespread shake-out triggered by the decision to merge the NHSX agency into NHS England’s transformation directorate. The Health Service Journal has reported that Simon Madden, the DHSC’s director of data policy, and Catherine Pollard, NHS England’s director of tech policy, will head up a ‘joint unit’ that will serve both bodies. The former chief executive of NHSX, Matthew Gould, formally acknowledged that he was leaving last week.

Health IT news: National standards and interoperability strategy published; Nuffield Trust advises on digital engagement; Allscripts business rebranded The NHS England transformation directorate has released a draft standards and interoperability strategy and has commissioned the Faculty of Clinical Informatics to support a feedback process. The Health Tech Newspaper reports that the document outlines a ‘fit to share’ model with ‘reusable’ components, such as SNOMED CT coding and the Dm+d. Meanwhile, the Nuffield Trust think-tank has published a report on how to support staff, public and patient engagement with digital innovation. Allscripts’ hospitals and large physician practices business has been rebranded as Altera Digital Health by its new owner, Harris Computer Corporation. Digitalhealth.net reports that this affects the Sunrise and dbMotion systems that are used in the UK.

Dartford and Gravesham builds on Alcidion EPR with ED and anaesthesia systems Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust is going to deploy Alcidion’s Miya Emergency in its emergency department. The trust is implementing an IT strategy built around Alcidion’s modern, modular electronic patient record, Miya Precision, and the move will extend its benefits to ED, while supporting efficient patient registration, triage, patient flow and reporting. Digitalhealth.net has reported that the trust is also going to deploy an anaesthesia information management system from Alcidion’s partner network. It will deploy Provation iPro, a modern, mobile system, to move away from paper-based anaesthesia records and support the efficient operation of theatres and recovery spaces.

Princess Alexandra introduces CliniSys ICE sample collection The pathology service at The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in Harlow has introduced the CliniSys Integrated Clinical Environment sample collection module. The development means that paper order forms have been removed from wards and outpatient departments. Instead, phlebotomists and clinical staff use the ICE sample collection module on iPads to check patient details and print blood tube labels. Pathology in Practice reports that the system has improved efficiency and safety, as it supports positive patient identification, or wrist-band scanning, on the wards, and a patient identification checklist in outpatients.