In this two-part series, HTN is looking back over the 20 most popular stories we’ve brought to you over the past 12 months.
2020 has brought forth many incredible news stories from the world of healthcare and technological development, here we pick 10 of the most popular:
NHSX launches remote patient monitoring tender
In May, NHSX launched a new market engagement process prior to a tender launch to invite suppliers to register their interest in a new Remote Patient Monitoring programme. The unit sought to help scale remote monitoring care across the NHS with a particular focus on COVID-19 patients and the management of those with long term conditions in order to support care throughout the next phases of the pandemic.
NHS COVID-19 live impact assessment tool launched
Shortly before the first UK lockdown, Draper & Dash launched a COVID-19 live hospital planning and demand impact assessment tool. The company, a leading predictive patient flow provider, said it had been working “around the clock” to deliver the vital tool to support impact assessment. The system models the impact of increased volume and complexity at a local and system level, providing visibility of ICU, theatres, and overall bed impact, and connects this live information to each trust’s clinical workforce.
Public Health England publishes live Coronavirus tracking dashboard
Back in March, Public Health England published an interactive tracking dashboard for desktop and mobile to monitor the spread of COVID-19. The dashboard included statistics on total cases, daily confirmed cases, and total deaths within the UK; the information was then displayed in a bar chart format and broken down into England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
Matt Hancock announces £140m AI Award open for applications
At the start of the year, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that applications were open for a £140m Artificial Intelligence Award run by the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) in partnership with NHSX and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The funding is available over three years to accelerate the testing and evaluation of the most promising AI technologies.
Royal Devon and Exeter’s Epic go-live week
On Saturday 10 October, at 4:45am, the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust (RDE) switched on their Epic EPR system across their main hospital and 21 community/specialist centres. This moment represented the culmination of over 2 years’ work to prepare the organisation for its largest transformation programme ever. The RDE is the fourth NHS Trust to go live with Epic in the UK.
Feature part two: How tech is supporting the COVID-19 crisis
This article was the second in a two-part series on the innovative health tech companies supporting the NHS, patients and staff throughout the COVID-19 crisis. We had the opportunity to speak to several businesses about the technology they were providing and how it benefitted people during this time, including discussions with Doctify, Visionable and Cerner.
Interview Series: Hugo Mathias, CIO, SIRO & Director of IT, Northampton General Hospital
In May, HTN had the opportunity to speak to Hugo Mathias, CIO, SIRO & Director of IT at Northampton General Hospital. Here, we discussed his role within the company and how he is working to create a digital, patient-focused NHS that will deliver joined-up care and get the best impact and value from technology.
Interview Series: Suzy Foster, CEO, EMIS Health
As a part of our ongoing series of interviews with various CEOs, we spoke with Suzy Foster, CEO of EMIS Health, to find out how the company had responded during the first few weeks of lockdown and they had planned as coming up for them over the next 12 months. The interview discussed Ms Foster’s background and how the pandemic had affected EMIS Health’s day-to-day operations.
Feature Part One: How tech is supporting the COVID-19 crisis
The first instalment in our series exploring the ways in which technology is helping to support the NHS saw us meet with companies such as TPP, AccuRx and iPlato, along with many others. We were able to discuss the various new systems and methods implemented during the time of the crisis, and how these businesses were hoping that their innovations would improve things for healthcare workers and patients throughout the pandemic.
NHS WhatsApp COVID-19 chatbot launched
In March, the government launched a new Coronavirus Information Service through WhatsApp, providing a chatbot function that could provide trustworthy and timely information about the virus. The service was intended to ensure that the public had a reliable resource they could use to check facts about COVID-19, and to put a stop to myths that were circulating.
