Healthcare Roundup

Seven days in the NHS and health IT

Health Foundation warns of future disease timebomb

The Health Foundation has warned that the number of people in England living with a major illness could increase from one in six today to one in five by 2040. In a report, the think-tank says this 37% increase will take place over a period at which the working age population will increase by only 4%; with “profound implications for the NHS, social care and other public services.” Most of the growth will come from an aging population and conditions such as anxiety and depression, chronic pain, and diabetes. The Health Foundation calls for investment in prevention, early intervention, and primary care services to cope.

Covenant for Health commission warns of current national health crisis

A report led by a cross-party commission of former health ministers and experts has called for an “emergency programme for better health” to address what it describes as a “population health emergency.” The commission highlights the short-term impacts of obesity, smoking, drinking, and issues like mouldy homes and air pollution. It says the NHS cannot be expected to treat them alone and calls for “urgent, cross-government action” on the root causes. Richard Murray, the chief executive of the King’s Fund, said: “England is at risk of drifting into a deeper health crisis” and the coming general election is a “critical moment” for parties to agree a different approach.

Health news: junior doctors to strike again in England, RAAC concerns in Scotland, women’s health hubs for every ICS, and a ‘111 press option 2’ service for mental health in Wales

Junior doctors are going to strike for four days from 11-15 August (BBC News). Data from NHS England suggests that around 66,000 appointments and procedures had to be rescheduled during the recent consultants’ strike, taking the total lost to industrial action over the past eight months to 765,000. The government is still refusing to negotiate. In Scotland, a survey has suggested that more than 350 hospitals and other facilities may contain reinforced aerated autoclaved concrete, which can fail suddenly and without warning (Scottish Construction Now). Seven hospitals at risk of collapse because of RAAC were recently added to England’s New Hospital Programme.

The Department of Health and Social Care has announced a package of small measures to mark a year since it launched its women’s health strategy. These include £25 million to set up a women’s health hub in every integrated care system. The NHS in Wales has launched a ‘111 press option 2’ service to give people with mental health conditions access to support 24/7. The service will transfer callers to a dedicated mental health team that can assess needs, provide phone-based support, or manage referrals to other services (Welsh Government news release).

Frontline Digitisation ‘unachievable’ – major projects authority

The Infrastructure and Projects Authority, which monitors major programmes across Whitehall, has said NHS England’s target for all trusts to have a basic electronic patient record by March 2025 is “unachievable” – and the government has effectively acknowledged this by quietly pushing the target date back a year. The authority’s report also confirms that £700 million has been cut from the £2.6 billion the Treasury found for NHS IT in the 2021 Budget, most of which was destined for Frontline Digitisation. Outgoing national director of transformation, Tim Ferris, talked about using the programme to ‘converge’ systems across healthcare economies.

There has been less discussion of ‘convergence’ recently. But the IPA report notes there is a long way to go just to get EPRs in place. NHS England believes there are 30 trusts with no EPR, and 138 that need to optimise or enhance their systems to deliver its ‘minimum digital foundations’ (43 trusts – or 20% - have EPRs at the required standard). The IPA report also says the GP IT Futures framework, which was supposed to reinvigorate the primary care IT market, failed to encourage any significant new entrants. Like Frontline Digitisation, a successor programme has been red rated (Health Service Journal coverage, digitalhealth.net report).

Cyber attack takes down ambulance EPRs

Two ambulance trusts have been left without a working electronic patient record system for a week after a cyber attack on their Swedish-based supplier, Ortivus, the Health Service Journal has reported. South Western Ambulance Service and South Central Ambulance Service NHS foundation trusts have been without the MobiMed system since a cyber attack on its data centre. Digitalhealth.net reported on Wednesday that the company was waiting for approval from NHS authorities to get the system up and running again. It’s a year since Advanced, which supplies software to many NHS 111 and mental health providers, was hit by a ransomware attack.

Health IT news: University Hospitals Sussex starts EPR market engagement; NHS SBS plans cyber security framework

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust has started an early market engagement for an electronic patient record. The Health Tech Newspaper reported that it will be looking for a ‘modular’ solution that works with existing applications and supports safety improvements and patient flow. NHS Shared Business Services has issued a prior information notice for the procurement of a framework for cyber security services. The Health Tech Newspaper reported that the framework could be worth up to £125 million, and cover a wide range of goods and services, from managed solutions to consultancy, and from hardware to anti-virus and other software.

Med tech and health tech: strategies and opportunities

Analysis

The Department of Health and Social Care has just published a strategy for medical technology. The Highland Marketing advisory board asked what chief information officers need to know about it; and how they can make the most of the opportunities that will come from integrating device data with medical records.