Healthcare Roundup

Seven days in the NHS and health IT

Barclay promises major conditions strategy but dumps mental health plan

Health and social care secretary Steve Barclay told the House of Commons his department will work with NHS England and other stakeholders on a Major Conditions Strategy. Barclay said the strategy will tackle the conditions that account for around 60% of disability adjusted life years in England, and often occur together (cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, dementia, mental ill health, and MSK disorders). In doing this, he said the strategy would also help to deliver on the Conservative Party’s manifesto commitment to add five years to healthy life expectancy by 2035 and narrow the gap on healthy life expectancy by 2030.

The announcement follows news that the government has abandoned a health disparities white paper and a cross-government mental health and wellbeing plan. Mark Rowland, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said the lack of a dedicated mental health plan was “a huge step backwards.” NHS Confederation director of policy Dr Layla McCay said that given the background to the new strategy: “Our members will want to see genuine commitment from central government to focus on reducing health inequalities and moving towards a preventative health model that tackles chronic comorbidities and reduces NHS demand.”

Health IT news: Nottingham rolls out Nervecentre EPMA and Birmingham and Solihull integrates Accurx into RiO

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has rolled out a Nervecentre electronic prescribing and medicines administration system. Digitalhealth.net reported that the rollout is the latest stage in the trust’s digitisation programme, which aims to create a fully-integrated electronic patient record platform and enable it to reach Level 7 on the HIMSS EMRAM maturity model. Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust has successfully embedded Accurx’s software within its Rio electronic patient record. Digitalhealth.net reported the move means staff can organise a remote video consultation or send an SMS to a patient from Rio, using any device.

Digital patient news: about a communications platform and orthopaedic app

Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is preparing to go live with a digital patient communications platform. Health Tech World reported that the Portasana platform developed by Wellola will be used to digitise two million patient communications a year, enable patients to manage aspects of their care, and free-up staff for other tasks that will help to tackle its care backlog. North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust has introduced an app to help patients prepare for hip and knee surgery. The Health Tech Newspaper reported that the mymobility app, developed with Apple and Zimmer-Bionet, has already been used by 150 patients.

Company news: about Mindray, Radar Health, and a new SloMo app

Medical device provider Mindray has become one of the first manufacturers in the world to receive accreditation for its defibrillators, under the European Union’s newest medical device regulation rules. Health Tech World reported that the BeneHeart series defibrillators are covered. Radar Healthcare has announced that Circle Health Group will introduce its risk management and compliance system across its 54 hospitals (Health Tech Newspaper). London design studio Special Projects has worked with clinical psychologists to develop an app called SlowMo for people experiencing psychosis. The app will be trialled by the NHS (Dezeen).

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.

Getting traction for an international product in the NHS

Highland Marketing Blog

You know you’ve got a great health tech product and you’re looking for international opportunities. So how do you break into the UK market? Highland Marketing CEO, Mark Venables, looks at options and explains why you need a partner for success.