At HTN this week, we welcomed a fantastic group of speakers to our online primary care conference, covered news from NHS Sussex on the use of data and business intelligent tools, a patient video series launched by NHS England and Improvement, and lots more.
Here’s our round-up of the rest of the headlines from across health tech…
System launched for ongoing provision of free PPE
The Department of Health and Social Care has announced the launch of a new online system, building on from a previous personal protective equipment (PPE) portal used to distribute 6 billion items.
The new online platform has been developed following feedback from users of the previous system, and is said to be ‘more user-friendly’, whilst introducing new functionality such as the ability to track orders.
The Department of Health and Social Care, said: “There is an ongoing migration period from the previous system to the new platform, and from 4 April 2022, all customers will be automatically redirected to the new PPE portal from the previous site. The new platform will be managed by NHS Supply Chain.”
“During the soft launch of the new portal, the department carried out a survey and received 446 responses. A total of 96% of respondents stated they were either “very satisfied” (76%) or “satisfied” (20%) with the new website.”
Cognizant to launch remote monitoring tools
Cognizant, a multinational technology services and consulting company, has revealed plans to offer remote patient monitoring and virtual health solutions.
The company announced its collaboration with Microsoft, using components of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, to deliver the solutions, and utilise products such as smart watches and blood pressure monitors to collect and communicate patient health data to providers.
Tom McGuinness, Corporate Vice President, Global Healthcare and Life Sciences, Microsoft, commented: “Cognizant’s new virtual healthcare solution utilises capabilities that make it easy for people to collect and share health data using their own devices, while ensuring that providers have the data and insights they need to diagnose and treat patients.”
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care pens EPMA contract
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust has signed a contract with Better to implement the suppliers electronic prescribing and medicines administration (EPMA) solution.
The trust plans to integrate the platform with its existing electronic patient record system and community patient management software.
Lisa Yates, Deputy Chief Information Officer at Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, said: “As a mental health and community trust we have some unique challenges, particularly around end-of-life care and specifics around prescriptions of antipsychotic medications, for example, which require a lot of rigour.
“Our neighbouring trust, Wye Valley NHS Trust, has successfully implemented Better Meds and spoke favourably of the speed and success of the project. We also spoke to several other Better Meds customers and heard lots of positive feedback, which further endorsed our decision.”
Automation company raise $50 million
Automata – a life sciences automation company – has raised US$50 million in Series B funding.
This company said it will use the investment to ‘enable significant development’, in the UK and wider.
Mostafa ElSayed, CEO, Automata, said: “I’m really excited at how this funding will take us on the next stage of our successful journey. At Automata we have always believed in the power of automation to support a variety of uses, especially when deployed at scale. We are thrilled to see our users adopt automation at a scale that transforms their ability to deliver more innovation in the life sciences and ultimately accelerates their pursuit of progress.
“For far too long scientists and clinicians have been having to work with overly complex lab solutions whereby the equipment and software are disjointed and difficult to orchestrate. Solutions are also often too rigid and inappropriate for labs with small geographic footprints. Our next generation technology solves this.”
Mid and South Essex Health and Care adopts marketing communications platform
Mid and South Essex Health and Care Partnership has gone live with a communications solution from Granicus, for email marketing campaigns.
The platform is being introduced with an aim to help the service engage with its subscriber base on relevant health and social care topics — with campaigns targeted to staff, stakeholders, and partners in the community.
James Sharp, Digital Media and Marketing Manager at Mid and South Essex Health and Care Partnership, commented: “We wanted to engage with a wider demographic amongst our residents by offering them a choice of how they wanted to be communicated with; whether that’s by email, website or mobile notification.”
Kooth partners with myGP
Kooth, a digital mental health provider, has partnered with myGP, developed by iPlato.
The collaboration between the two services will offer NHS patients using iPlato’s myGP app the ability to self-refer to the Kooth digital mental health platform.
The suppliers are currently in pilot with the solution, ahead of a planned roll-out later this year.
