Healthcare Roundup

Seven days in the NHS and health IT

NHS critically short of blood

NHS Blood and Transplant has issued an amber alert over blood supplies. The first warning of its kind urges trusts to conserve stocks, which is likely to lead to cancelled operations. The Guardian reports that NHSBT has just three days’ worth of blood and just two days’ worth of O-type blood that can be given to all patients. NHSBT seems to be a struggling with a lack of staff and a change of donor behaviour post-Covid, with people less likely to visit its collection centres in towns and cities. Despite this, people are being urged to step-up and give blood if they can.

Vaccine push to prevent ‘twindemic’ over “most difficult winter on record”

The NHS is trialling national booking for flu vaccinations, alongside the usual GP and pharmacy routes (NHS England). Public health experts are urging all those available for free Covid-19 boosters and flu jabs to take up the offer, amid fears that a ‘twindemic’ could put even more pressure on the NHS this winter (Evening Standard). More than a thousand staff in Wales were off work with Covid last week, according to the Welsh NHS Confederation, whose director, Darren Hughes, has said the health service there is facing “the most difficult winter on record” (Western Telegraph). Scotland’s health minister has said the same thing (Daily Record).

Cabinet Office to review NHS IT and digital spending plans

The Cabinet Office is clamping down on NHS spending. The Health Service Journal reports that new restrictions mean it must approve the business case for any spend over £10 million, initially in London, and then across the rest of England. The new rules will apply even in areas that have existing control processes, such as digital and IT and capital procurements over £5 million. The move comes amid growing financial pressure on the NHS caused by ongoing Covid-costs, fuel price rises, general inflation, unrealistic control targets, and fears about public funding cuts, following the mini-budget. But it will further complicate and slow investment decisions.

Health IT news: About digital mental health regulation, standards, and trust working on patient apps

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence have been given £1.8 million to review and produce guidance on the regulation of digital mental health tools, digitalhealth.net has reported. The Professional Record Standards Body has extended its shared care record standards to five community settings: pharmacy, optometry, dentistry, ambulance and community services, digitalhealth.net has reported. ORCHA and Patients Know Best are working with Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to create a library of digital health solutions for patients to access through the trust’s PKB portal, the Health Tech Newspaper has reported.

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust has launched a Healthier Together app to provide parents, carers and young people with traffic-lighted guidance on childhood illnesses, the Health Tech Newspaper has reported. Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Healthcare Communications and Mindwave Ventures have created a web-based ‘one stop shop’ for children’s mental health in Liverpool and Sefton, Health Tech World has reported. And GP practices in South Hampshire are introducing Microtech Health SurgeryPods to enable patients to take their own blood pressure, weight and other readings, and have them entered into their medical record, so practices can run NHS health checks without taking up appointments (The HTN).

Crisis, what crisis? When things go wrong, good communications can get you back on track

Highland Marketing Blog

When things go wrong, keeping quiet isn’t an option. What you say, and how you say it, are the key to safeguarding your reputation. In this blog, Highland Marketing’s co-founder, Mark Venables, looks at communicating in a crisis.