Healthcare Roundup

Seven days in the NHS and health IT

More coronavirus controls lifted

The Scottish Government has lifted the legal requirement to wear face coverings in most indoor public spaces and on public transport; although it “strongly recommends” that masks should still be worn in these settings. Scotland is the last administration in the UK to remove the face coverings rule. Meanwhile, the UK Health Security Agency has advised health services across the UK that they can relax some of the infection control measures that were put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic. The new guidance relaxes the rules on cleaning, social distancing, testing, and isolation, and seems designed to increase capacity, particularly in emergency departments and theatres.

Health IT news: Indra Joshi joins Palantir; Tim Ferris pushes NHS data use at Commons committee appearance; NHS 111 text service piloted in the North West

Palantir Technologies has hired Indra Joshi, the former head of AI at NHSX, Bloomberg reports. The financial reporting service says the move may raise conflicts of interest, since the controversial company provided the NHS Covid 19 data store and is likely to be in the running to provide its successor, the £240 million Federated Data Platform, for which NHS England is undertaking a market engagement exercise. Tim Ferris, the director of transformation at NHS England, has described data as a “core asset” for tackling waiting lists and driving transformation at the Commons’ science and technology committee.

Ferris also said he had an “aspiration” to make the NHS App a “vehicle” for enabling patients to control and track the use of their data, diginomica reports. The NHS in the North West is running an SMS pilot in which health advice is sent to NHS 111 callers by text message. The text message is sent when the service would read advice to a caller. The aim is to reduce the length of calls and make it easier for callers to recall and act on the information they are given, The Westmoreland Gazette reports.

FEDIP creates charter to address concerns of informatics professionals

The Federation of Informatics Professionals, or FEDIP, has created a charter for technology, information and data experts working in the health and care sector. Digitalhealth.net reported that the charter has been created following a national consultation and covers: the need for career guidance; networking and community opportunities; continuous professional development; and a simpler landscape. The charter will act as “a manifesto for action” to “change the visibility and voice of the profession.” FEDIP is comprised of six organisations that represent technology, information, and data professionals, and is best known for maintaining a public register that informaticians can use to demonstrate their competencies.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust to deploy Alcidion technology

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is to deploy Alcidion’s patient flow, patient observations, and pager replacement systems. The trust is a long-standing user of the ExtraMed patient flow technology that Alcidion acquired a year ago. It will use the newest version of the technology, called Miya Flow, to give clinical teams access to electronic ‘journey boards’ with ‘at a glance’ information about a patient’s status. It will also roll-out Miya Observations for alerts and Smartpage for clinical communications. All the solutions will be integrated into the trust’s Cerner electronic patient record, which is due to go live later this year, Digitalhealth.net reports.

Berkshire and Surrey Pathology Services supports expansion with CliniSys, as the company acquires ApolloLIMS

Berkshire and Surrey Pathology Services is extending its WinPath Enterprise laboratory information system to the laboratories serving Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust. The CliniSys LIMS will support standardised working across the expanded network, which will serve five trusts and six acute hospitals, and be one of the largest pathology networks in England. BSPS will also roll-out a standardised version of the CliniSys Integrated Clinical Environment, or ICE, so clinicians can order tests and view results from any location, Health Tech World reports. CliniSys has also acquired US LIMS provider ApolloLIMS, which specialises in public health, toxicology and molecular diagnostics, Digitalhealth.net reports.

Health tech comms for tough, competitive times

Highland Marketing Blog

The NHS is emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic with limited resources to meet the huge pressure it is under. That’s focusing attention on national targets and upping the stakes for health tech companies with digital solutions to help deliver on them.

At times like this, effective sales, marketing and PR campaigns are essential. Highland Marketing co-founders Mark and Susan Venables have some pointers to offer.