Healthcare Roundup

Seven days in the NHS and health IT

Government - union relations deteriorate

Ambulance staff struck again on Wednesday, with around 20,000 paramedics, call handlers and technicians walking out in England and Wales (BBC News). The strike went ahead despite a short meeting between unions and health and social care secretary Steve Barclay on Monday. Barclay was reportedly only interested in talking about productivity (Sky News), which Onay Kasab, Unite’s national lead, said was an “insult” when staff were already working 18-hour shifts. Unions have now decided to boycott the independent pay review body process that should determine a way settlement for the coming year (Financial Times). Evidence for the 2023-4 pay round was due in on Wednesday.

Health news: about care home beds, oxygen safety, waiting lists, and an artificial pancreas

The health service will spend £200 million on buying extra beds in care homes to try and ease discharge problems and use £50 million of capital funding to upgrade and expand ambulance hubs and discharge lounges (DHSC press release). NHS England has issued a national patient safety alert about the use of oxygen cylinders in areas without access to medical gas pipeline systems - because so many patients are being treated in corridors and cubicles. In positive news, English waiting lists fell slightly this month, from 7.21 million to 7.19 million (Sky News) and an ‘artificial pancreas’ was approved to manage type 1 diabetes (The Guardian).

NHS England launches procurement for Federated Data Platform

NHS England has finally launched a tender for the much-delayed Federated Data Platform that will replace and build on the legacy of the NHS Covid-19 Data Store. The five- to seven-year contract will be worth up to £480 million, depending on how many central bodies, integrated care systems and trusts use the platform, which NHS England says will help them to make the most the information they hold to solve operational and clinical challenges. The data store’s current provider, Palantir, was recently awarded an £11.5 million, six-month contract extension to cover the procurement period (digitalhealth.net).

Palantir is also widely expected to win the FDP contract (digitalhealth.net analysis from December) However, the company’s involvement with the NHS is controversial. A ‘No Palantir in our NHS’ campaign has been set up Foxglove, a not-for-profit company that uses legal cases to campaign on data issues. And in December, a number of patients’ rights groups mounted a legal challenge to the Faster Data Flow Project that also uses its Foundry technology (The Register). In November, NHS national data guardian Dr Nicola Byrne said the NHS should look for suppliers that share its values in a blog on the FDP (digitalhealth.net).

Health IT news: about apps in Scotland, an NHS Digital online community, virtual wards and penguin robots

NHS Education for Scotland has launched its Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment – or ReSPECT – app at a second health board, NHS Tayside. The app was designed by NTS in partnership with NHS Forth Valley to support and record decisions about what should happen to patients in an emergency and is deployed via the National Data Platform. NHS Highland is continuing the roll-out of its secure online portal, Patient Hub, which is focused on booking. Seven specialities are already live, with more expected to follow this year. NHS Digital has launched an online community for people working with its Application Programming Interfaces platform.

The platform provides tools and services for building and integrating systems with national applications, and the idea of the community is to provide a space in which uses can share knowledge and ideas (digitalhealth.net story, NHS Digital developer hub). Solent NHS Trust is piloting virtual wards for frail patients in Portsmouth and Southampton. The trust is using technology from Doccla to monitor patients on the wards, with data integrated with TPP’s SystmOne (digitalhealth.net). Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is trialling the use of penguin shaped robot Helper Bots developed by Norwich start-up Academy of Robotics (uktech).

Communicating in a crisis: health tech in 2023

Highland Marketing Blog

2022 has thrown up three big trends that will continue into 2023. These are: the ongoing crisis in the NHS, changes in IT policy and leadership, and a mutating media landscape. Highland Marketing co-founders Mark and Susan Venables consider what they mean for marketing, PR and communications in the year ahead.