Here’s a brief overview of some of the stories within the health tech community that have caught our eye.
£1.5million Da Vinci Xi surgical robotic system to be introduced in Somerset
Musgrove Park and Yeovil Hospitals, part of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, have already begun training surgeons on the use of a new £1.5 million Da Vinci Xi surgical robotic system, set to be introduced in the summer.
Richard Bamford, colorectal surgeons, explained: “The term ‘robotic’ often misleads people. Robots don’t actually perform surgery – the surgeon still does that using instruments that they guide via a console. The system translates the surgeon’s hand movements at the console in real time, bending and rotating the instruments while performing the procedure. The tiny instruments move like a human hand, but with a greater range of motion.”
The system will also enable surgeons to perform more intricate, less invasive surgery, across a wider range of disciplines.
Hospital at Home service in Hertfordshire attracts international interest from health officials in Singapore
A group of delegates from Singapore’s Ministry for Healthcare Transformation visited Hertfordshire in April to learn more about the work that the Care Coordination Centre in Stevenage has been doing to look after patients remotely in their own home.
Using remote monitoring systems and equipment supplied by Doccla, the service has worked with the East of England Ambulance Service Trust to identify patients who may be suitable for remote care, reducing pressures on acute hospital services. It is reported that more than 4,000 patients in the Hertfordshire area have benefitted since the service launched in 2022.
Interest in the Hospital at Home service has also been forthcoming from other international locations, as well as NHS England’s Transformation programme, who last month sent programme leaders to learn more about how the service model benefitted patient care
Investment in innovative decontamination equipment across Leeds Teaching Hospitals
The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust recently reported their investment in next-generation hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) decontamination equipment.
ProXcide, developed by Invios, uses HPV technology to minimise risk of associated healthcare infections by reducing viruses and bacteria to safe and non-infective levels in under two hours. 14 of these new devices will be in use across areas of the St James’s site, particularly in identified high-risk areas such as operating theatres, accident and emergency, and neonatal units.
With the power to be remote operated, as well as to automatically alter settings to suit each decontamination process, the devices have been heralded as helping support the trust in maintaining a safe environment for patients.
Remote monitoring solution in Lancashire supports post-operative heart attack patients
A remote monitoring solution provided by the Lancashire Cardiac Centre is enabling post-operative heart attack patients to return home from hospital sooner at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals.
Under the early discharge pathway, patients are receiving digital monitoring whilst they recover in their own homes. Having been successfully trialled on 25 patients, it is hoped that the solution will give healthcare systems the opportunity to improve bed efficiency without compromising on care.
Rachel Haworth, project lead at Blackpool Teaching Hospital, commented: “As well as the obvious benefits for the patient, this service will also improve bed efficiency without compromising patient safety or quality of care. The data feeding through is showing positive results, with all patients that accessed the service, remained out of hospital in the first seven days of discharge. Patients have reported ‘having access to a digital platform has really enhanced their care.’”
Pilot for the digital rehabilitation of head and neck cancer patients sees first patients recruited
The Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust’s new pilot project for head and neck cancer patients, which offers digital prehab support, has seen its first 11 patients recruited.
With digital support by ONKO and funding from Macmillan Cancer Support, the project aims to allow 50 patients to receive prehab through a mobile device or web platform, using wearable devices to monitor their progress.
Types of support offered digitally will include health coaching, exercise and intervention programmes, reducing the length of hospital stays and increasing engagement with behavioural change.
Digital pathology to offer faster diagnosis for patients and better work-life balance for consultant histopathologists
The Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT) has become the second of six West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts to implement digital pathology.
The new technology will allow consultant histopathologists to work remotely, viewing slides on a computer, rather than through a microscope, thanks to a new digital slide scanner. Collaborative working between trusts will also mean that if a consultant would like a second opinion, they can easily share their slides via a shared storage site, before sending an electronic request for review.
It is hoped that this digital process will offer faster diagnosis for patients and increased flexibility in working for consultant histopathologists.
