Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has opened a procurement valued up to £400k for a fully managed digital MSK service, to offer a “complete alternative” to traditional community physio pathways.
The solution is to incorporate 24/7 digital triage and remote treatment, according to the trust, to deliver personalised, preventative, and multidisciplinary care whilst maintaining safety and governance arrangements.
AI-enabled assessment will be combined with HCPC-registered physio oversight, Berkshire Healthcare states, with the contracted partner to take full accountability for clinical outcomes, patient management, incident reporting, and ongoing governance. The requirement is also set out for the selected solution to integrate with existing NHS systems.
The contract is set to run for 12 months, with an option to extend for a further one year. More details and procurement documents are available here.
Berkshire Healthcare recently shared plans to redesign care pathways, transform care, and realise efficiency and productivity improvements with the use of AI, automation, and digital tools.
In its five-year strategy to 2031, the trust commits to innovation, transformation, and system reinvestment in proactive, multidisciplinary neighbourhood healthcare, delivering on the three shifts outlined in the 10-Year Plan, improving access to primary care, and improving outcomes for local communities.
A trust productivity and efficiency programme has been initiated, with an initial income and expenditure planning gap of £15 million for 2026/27, and a two percent annual productivity growth requirement in tariff, it notes. A leadership group is reportedly scoping priorities in line with required benefits to deliver financial sustainability over three-to-five years.
Wider trend: Digitally-enabled care
HTN was joined by a panel of healthcare leaders for a discussion on digital in supporting pathway redesign, covering challenges, approaches, and examples of success. We considered what good looks like in this space, along with national guidance, what’s working and what isn’t, with an aim to share practical insight and learnings. Making up our panel, we welcomed Lee Rickles, CIO at Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust; David East, Rego director at NEC Software Solutions; and Lydia Salice, divisional director for digital at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust has introduced digital histopathology reporting following an 18-month programme of investment, innovation, and workforce development. According to the trust, the move to a full digital pathology service supports improved reviews of cases and collaboration. Using the system, specialists can examine tissue samples using high-definition digital images, replacing traditional glass slides, UHNM explains. Glass slides are loaded into specialist scanners which use high-definition digital cameras attached to a microscope to capture hundreds of images that are then “digitally stitched” together to form a complete image of the tissue sample. These images can then be uploaded to the trust’s PACS system to be quality checked and released to pathologists.
The NHS England Getting It Right First Time programme has shared a report on improving care and support for children and young adults living with diabetes to highlight the use of digital, wearable tech, digital self-management tools, and digitally enabled pathways. A review drawing on national audit and activity datasets, along with local insight, identified “excellent practice in many places”, GIRFT programme lead and NHSE national director for clinical improvement, elective recovery, and UEC Tim Briggs revealed. “But it also shows that variation is driven less by clinical complexity than by system design: diffuse accountability, inconsistent standards, workforce and infrastructure pressures, and a persistent failure to turn good data into sustained action.”
