Labour Party makes NHS pledges, announces Fit for the Future tech fund Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told his annual conference that if the party is returned to power at the next general election, it will put £1.1 billion into NHS overtime to deliver an additional 2 million operations, scans and elective appointments in its first year (news release). Labour also promised a £171 million Fit for the Future Fund to double the number of diagnostic scanners over the course of a parliament. The King’s Fund has estimated that the NHS has fewer scanners per person than comparable countries, and FoI requests have estimated that 48% of trusts have an MRI or CT scanner that is working past its ten-year lifespan.   Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said trusts buying new scanners would be expected to buy kit with AI embedded to speed up and improve the accuracy of diagnosis. “We will arm the NHS with the cutting-edge kit it needs to cut waiting lists and get patients treated on time again,” he claimed. Trusts that don’t need scanners will be able to invest in equipment or IT systems (news release). Labour also promised to address the crisis in dentistry, saying the total cost of its £1.6 billion package could be funded by abolishing non-dom tax status.

NHS England declares virtual ward target met NHS England has issued a news release to say it has “delivered on its ambition” to have 10,000 virtual ward beds in place by the end of September. The release says more than 240,000 patients have been treated on virtual wards, which deliver hospital-level care for patients with conditions such as heart disease, respiratory failure, or frailty at home. The use of virtual wards took off during the Covid-19 pandemic, and NHS England has provided two years of funding to deliver the target. It is also running a website with guidance, case studies and news about the programme.

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare picks Sectra enterprise imaging Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust has signed a deal with Sectra to roll out its enterprise imaging solution. The deal means the trust has joined five others in the region using Sectra technology. The cloud-based system will support the PACS-based reporting of imaging, making it easier for scans to be reported at different sites and for professionals to access images regardless of where they were captured. Jane Rendall, UK and Ireland managing director for Sectra, told digitalhealth.net that diagnosticians were excited about the potential to improve services for patients who move around the area.

Funding news: £3 million allocated from Adult Social Care Technology Fund; 2017 hospital repair and upgrade programme delayed The government has awarded £3 million of funding to four projects looking to use technology to improve adult social care. The money from the Adult Social Care Technology Fund will be spent on projects to: improve medication management; develop remote monitoring; test out home sensors; and trial digital falls prevention. However, national bidding projects of this kind can face considerable challenges. Documents seen by the Health Service Journal suggest that the £3 billion sustainability and transformation partnership hospital upgrade and repair programme that was announced in 2017 has been hit by delays, with £1 billion of funding yet to be paid out.

Health IT news: Public Health Wales launches new strategy, LPP launches new framework, Microsoft adds to Fabric and Azure AI, Imprivata supports NHSmail, Induction wins three portal contracts, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells works with PKB Public Health Wales has launched a new digital and data strategy, Health Tech Newspaper has reported. The strategy aims to improve the accessibility, quality and security of health data and align with other strategies and standards. The latest Clinical Digital Health Solutions Framework has been opened by the NHS London Procurement Partnership, Health Tech Newspaper has reported. The framework wants solutions to support an integrated health economy. Microsoft has added more features to its Fabric data platform and Azure AI services, digitalhealth.net has reported. The additions include tools to ingest FHIR, imaging and device data, to de-identify data, and to summarise unstructured clinical notes.   Imprivata Identity Governance now supports NHSmail, Health Tech World has reported. The new capability will enable organisations to provision NHSmail accounts and manage them across their lifecycle. Induction has won another three patient portal contracts worth a total of £1.4 million, digitalhealth.net has reported in one of its new coffee time briefings. All the deals are in London. Meanwhile, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has signed a contract to deploy the Patients Know Best personal health record, digitalhealth.net has reported. It is the third acute trust in Kent and Medway to work with PKB.