Tag: technology

At the University of South Australia, researchers designed a system that allows them to measure a patient’s blood pressure with a camera. The camera visualizes the patient’s forehead and focuses on two regions in particular to optically determine photoplethysmographic signals that AI algorithms then convert to blood pressure data. The researchers tested their system in 25 volunteers, and so far it has proven to be approximately 90% as accurate as traditional pressure cuff measurements. The system could provide contact-free measurements in as little as ten seconds, and could be very useful for large health screens or in situations where minimal contact is preferred for safety, such as during a pandemic.

Blood pressure is a key health indicator, but our method of measuring it can be a little cumbersome. Inflatable cuffs can be uncomfortable and a bit of a faff to use. If we could develop a non-invasive and rapid alternative,

More than 40 System Control Centres (SCCs) are now operating 24/7 across the country in a bid to ease pressures on the NHS this winter and as we move into 2023.

Director and CIO of the Yorkshire & Humber Care Record Programme, Lee Rickles, speaks exclusively to Digital Health News about SCCs, including why they are “a good concept”, the challenges that lie ahead and why the Humber and North Yorkshire region are yet to introduce one.

The purpose of SCCs is to consistently ensure the safest and highest quality of care possible for the entire population across every area by balancing the clinical risk within and across all acute, community, mental health, primary care, and social care services.

The new 24/7 centres are already live in all 42 integrated care systems (ICSs) in England, operating mostly across integrated care boards (ICB). The intention is that they will manage demand

Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby has received a new machine that their dementia patients can interact with to help them recall and share memories of past events.

Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust’s official charity, The Health Tree Foundation, received a donation of more than £8,000 from Cleethorpes Golf Club.

The money will be used to purchase a Reminiscence Interactive Therapy Activities (RITA) machine which will be installed at the Grimsby hospital.

The machine is designed to help patients with dementia recall events from their past, which is particularly beneficial to those with memory impairments. It uses a range of interactive activities to boost cognitive stimulation and help patients share their memories and spark conversation.

Emily Woods, dementia clinical nurse specialist, said: “The RITA machines are fantastic as they can be used for cognitive stimulation. It helps keep patients stimulated and creates conversation. We do use them

Our latest Movers and Shakers roundup features key departures from NHS England and moves involving NHS Providers and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.

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Professor Jonathan Benger is leaving his role as acting national CCIO at NHS England to become the new chief medical officer at the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE).

In an NHS England internal bulletin Dr Tim Ferris, director of transformation, said: “Jonathan has played a significant role in NHS Digital’s leadership in recent years, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, and I have appreciated his expertise and advice.”

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Dr Gareth Thomas, the long-serving deputy national CCIO at NHS England is also departing to take up a new role as digital innovation director across the Greater Manchester health and care system.

The new role is a joint appointment between Health Innovation Manchester and NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care.

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Mark Cubbon, current NHS England chief delivery

Digital Health and Care Wales has triumphed at the British Computer Society’s annual UK IT industry awards, being named the best place to work in IT.

The NHS Wales organisation is taking the lead on technology-enabled transformation across the industry. It was honoured for providing the best employment and career opportunities for IT professionals working in the UK.

Judges awarded it top marks for Digital Health and Care Wales’ commitment to diversity and inclusion as well as the skills and career development of its staff.

Helen Thomas, Digital Health and Care Wales CEO, said: “It is a fantastic achievement for all of us and shows how building a great team brings success both for staff and for our stakeholders.

“We are very proud of the work we do to help the NHS in Wales use digital for better care.”

The company has offices in Cardiff, Swansea and Mold, and employs

Strasys and Silico have signed an agreement to deliver digital twins of entire hospitals and healthcare systems, to optimise decision intelligence.

The partnership formalises the integration of Silico’s business process simulation (BPS) software with Strasys’ technology that creates digital twins. The BPS platform will allow Strasys to create digital replicas of individual business processes to test the efficiency of potential changes.

By linking the digital replicas to form a digital twin, Strasys can simulate the outcome of different decisions across healthcare ecosystems. The process helps to optimise decision-making in the sector, enhance operational processes, ensure services run effectively and achieve better patient outcomes.

Naeem Younis, CEO at Strasys, said: “Through the Strasys approach, using Silico, health and care systems will be able to bring together disparate datasets, ML/AI algorithms and qualitative data to create digital twins of their ecosystem – creating the foresight to bring stakeholders together to make better

Bigfoot Biomedical, a medtech company based in California, has developed the Bigfoot Unity System, a diabetes management technology for patients on multiple daily injection therapy. The system uses continuous glucose monitoring data and doctor recommendations to provide insulin dose recommendations, helping patients to avoid uncertainty.

The company argues that type 2 diabetes patients have been historically underserved by the medtech industry, in part because such patients typically tend to be older at diagnosis, and perhaps less inclined to adopt new technologies. This contrasts with type 1 “power users” who are more aware of the nuances of their disease at an early age and are better disposed to adopt new technologies to help manage it.

Bigfoot aims to provide technological solutions to help such patients to manage their disease more effectively.

Medgadget last spoke with Bigfoot Biomedical CMO Red Maxwell in March 2020. Now, we talk with Jeffrey Brewer, CEO

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust has rolled out a new e-prescribing and medicines administration (ePMA) solution to eliminate the need for paper records and improve the consistency of patient care.

Working with CGI, an independent IT and business consulting services firm, and Better, North Cumbria Integrated Care has rolled out the Better Meds ePMA solution to all of its community hospital inpatient settings.

The digital system enables North Cumbria Integrated Care to deliver increased quality and consistency of care for its patients across the trust.

Paul Fieldhouse, clinical director of pharmacy at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The new system is already transforming the way medicines are prescribed and administered across our hospitals. Of all our digital projects, e-Prescribing is the biggest step forward in patient safety.”

The solution facilitates the prescribing of medicines and the recording of its administration, plus supports pharmacy reconciliation and

NHS national data guardian Dr Nicola Byrne has advised national policymakers that they should ensure key suppliers must share NHS core values.

The guidance, provided as part of a blog on advice she has been offering on the proposed new federated data platform, appears to provide a warning about the expected award of the contract to Palantir, due to the risk of undermining public confidence.

“I have also counselled that the programme should remain mindful of the NHS’s core values, and how the track record and values demonstrated by any organisations procured to deliver on a large-scale data programme align with them,” Byrne said.

Palantir, which is the incumbent supplier, has been a lightning rod for concerns about the national patient database project, due to its close links to US national security agencies and right-wing founder Peter Thiel.

In a November blog post entitled ‘In pursuit of balance:

At the Tech UK London Health and Social Care Industry Dinner last night speculation was rife on who will be named the next national NHS chief information officer (CIO).

With a job advert published earlier this week, the favourite talk among industry insiders was who may be the person to fill the seat about to be vacated by Simon Bolton, interim CIO at NHS Digital, who had been due to become interim CIO at NHS England.

Bolton was at the dinner, but did not speak.  However the other national NHS CIO, Sonia Patel, did for the second year in a row. Patel joked that unlike her former NHS boss, Matthew Gould, now CEO of London Zoo, “I’m not planning to go to the zoo or jungle any time soon”.

A sign perhaps that Patel, who was first recruited in 2020 to be national CIO, before being unceremoniously moved sideways into