G7 agree pandemic pact  The health ministers of the world’s leading industrialised nations have agreed a “landmark pact” to make sure the world is better prepared for future pandemics. A news release on the Department of Health and Social Care website says the pact by the G7 will see the UK, USA, Japan, Canada, France, Germany and Italy work with international medical bodies to share lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic. Ministers also agreed to additional measures to tackle the growing threats of antimicrobial resistance and climate heating. All seven G7 members are now committed to creating carbon neutral healthcare systems by 2050 at the latest.

‘Fuller stocktake’ aims to reboot primary care  NHS England has published a review of primary care that it commissioned from GP Dr Claire Fuller. The review, known colloquially as the ‘Fuller stocktake’, asked how integrated care systems and primary care networks could address some of the challenges facing general practice. It suggests that PCNs should “evolve” into “integrated neighbourhood teams” that “bring together general practice with other parts of the health and care system” in order to improve access and deliver regular support to the elderly and those living with complex, long-term conditions. A letter signed by all 42 ICS chief executives makes a “personal commitment” to “take forward the actions” in their areas.

Unrelenting pressure on ambulance and emergency services  The CQC has published a report into emergency care in Cornwall, saying patients have suffered “severe harm” because of “unrelenting pressure” on its ambulance and A&E services. The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has been on Opel-4 or ‘black alert’ since last October (HSJ). Meanwhile, one of the leaders of the West Midlands Ambulance Service has predicted that his organisation is facing a “Titanic moment” and will fail in August (HSJ) (BBC News). Nursing director Mark Docherty said if handover delays continue to rise, a third of the trust’s resources will be tied up outside hospitals, leaving it unable to respond.

‘Critical incident’ declared over four hospital IT failure  Four hospitals in Greater Manchester have been hit by an ongoing IT failure. The hospitals, which were run by Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, but are now run by the Northern Care Alliance or Manchester University NHS foundation trusts, declared a ‘critical incident’ on 24 May because of the problems which started on 18 May. Local reporting indicates that staff have been unable to access medical records, results and e-prescribing systems (Manchester Evening News), leading to delays and patients being “lost” in the system (MEN). An HSJ source said there had been a “critical IT memory loss”. NCA and MUFT are planning to move the hospitals to their Allscripts and Epic electronic patient records next year.

Integrated care systems ‘a long way from IT convergence’  Tim Ferris, the head of the NHS England transformation directorate, which has absorbed NHSX, has indicated that he wants all trusts to reach Level 5 on the HIMSS EMRAM maturity model, and for areas to converge their electronic patient records. However, the Health Service Journal (paywall) has calculated that just nine out of 42 integrated care systems have an EPR at all their trusts and fewer than three EPRs across their patch. The rest have one or more trusts without an EPR and/or multiple EPRs in use. North West London ICS is the most converged area, with all four acute trusts deploying Cerner and non-acute trusts using GP systems.

Health IT news: for Sleepio, WMAS, Nervecentre at Plymouth, and Visionable The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended the Sleepio digital self-help programme as a treatment for insomnia, the Health Tech Newspaper has reported. The West Midlands Ambulance Service has received global digital exemplar accreditation for projects including digital systems to prepare crews and ambulances for shifts and better access to patient records at the scene, the Health Tech Newspaper has reported. University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust has rolled-out the emergency department and patient safety modules of its Nervecentre electronic patient record, digitalhealth.net has reported. Visionable and Verizon Business have opened a Connected Healthcare Centre digital experience centre in Kent, Health Tech World has reported.