Healthcare Roundup

Seven days in the NHS and health IT

Nurses escalate strike action

The Royal College of Nursing has announced a significant escalation of its strike action for better pay and conditions. The RCN is planning a continuous 48-hour strike, affecting 120 trusts, and including nurses who work in A&E, intensive care, and cancer services for the first time (The Guardian). Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “It is clear that this more intensive wave of strike action will be more disruptive than what we have seen so far.” He urged the government and unions to re-start talks, but the government appears to be in no mood to do this.

Health news: about health rewards and Wolverhampton and a genetic treatment breakthrough

The government is reviving the idea of giving people incentives such as supermarket vouchers and cinema tickets to increase their exercise levels and healthy food consumption. The latest iteration of the idea is the launch of a Better Health: Rewards programme, which will post out fitness trackers and apps to people living in Wolverhampton (Department of Health and Social Care). Meanwhile, a 19-month old baby girl called Teddi has become the first child in the UK to receive gene therapy for the rare but fatal disorder metachromatic leukodystrophy. The revolutionary treatment Libmeldy has a list price of £2.8 million – although NHS England has negotiated a discount (NHS England).

Panel rates NHS digital efforts ‘inadequate’

An independent panel set up by the Commons’ health and social care committee to assess progress on government commitments to digitise the NHS and give them an Ofsted or CQC-style rating has reported back - and delivered an overall verdict of ‘inadequate.’ The panel, chaired by Dame Jane Dacre, looked at nine commitments in four policy areas and asked whether the commitment is being met, properly resourced, impactful, and appropriate. In some areas, like virtual wards, it concluded the commitment is appropriate - but delivery, resourcing and impact is inadequate. While in others, such as recruiting a digital workforce, it concluded the commitment is inadequate across the board.

Professor Dacre commented: “What is particularly disappointing is that the government realises that the digitisation of he NHS is essential… yet time and again promises have been made but not delivered, hampering wider progress. The aspirations to transform the NHS, supported by the right digital foundations, are to be applauded. However, our report finds evidence mainly of opportunities missed.” The committee, chaired by Conservative MP Steve Brine, will use the report to inform an inquiry that it is running into the digital transformation of the NHS and social care. The outcome of that inquiry will include recommendations to ministers.

NHS England flags role of digital in reducing ‘did not attends’

NHS England has sent a letter to integrated care board and trust chief executives that highlights the need to reduce ‘did not attends’ – or people failing to turn up for appointments (NHS England). There were 103 million outpatient appointments booked in 2021-22, of which 650,000 were not taken up. The letter says the reasons are complex - and often correlate with inequality - but all departments should be doing some simple things to reduce DNAs, such as sending reminder letters, calls and SMS, and making it easy to alter or cancer appointments. It also says patients and personal health records can cut DNAs and improve engagement.

App news: for mental health, MSK and breastfeeding support

Future Care Capital, a charity with roots in nursery care that now explores ways to invest in health and care technologies, has launched a commissioning tool to help professionals understand what digital mental health tools are available to them and a public guide to help patients find support that fits their needs (digitalhealth.net). Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust has launched an app called getUBetter to help patients with musculoskeletal injuries and conditions to manage their care at home (digitalhealth.net). Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust has worked with LatchAid Ltd to provide breastfeeding support through an app called Anya, which includes advice, messaging, and chatrooms (Health Tech Newspaper).

Getting started with marketing

Highland Marketing Blog

You’ve got an innovative and excellent product, so why aren’t NHS influencers and decision makers talking about it? Dr. Alastair Kirby is an Industry and Technology Navigator at Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network (KSS AHSN). In this blog, he reflects on what marketing is, and why it matters just as much for start-ups, scale-ups, and new products as it does for established companies.