News, News in Brief

News in brief: Phase 2 EPR launch at Royal Wolverhampton, digital letters at University Hospitals Sussex, new organ transport tech at Kidney Research UK

Welcome to our latest news in brief article, where we take a look at some of the health tech news stories that have caught our attention over the last few weeks.

Phase two EPR go-live at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust has launched phase two of its EPR go-live with a paper picnic, according to trust EPR operational lead Keely Anne Evans.

Sharing in a LinkedIn post, Evans noted that clinical colleagues were invited to bring their paper-based forms along as part of the event, stating: “By doing this, we could start to get a sense of scale of what true digitisation actually means, and help shape our decisions around scope, priority and delivery of our full electronic patient record.”

The post continued on to thank colleagues involved both from the organisation and System C, as well as the clinicians who took time to support the launch.

University Hospitals Sussex offers digital letters update 

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust has offered an update on the trust’s use of digital letters, noting that more than half of all patient letters are now being sent through digital channels.

Over 70 percent of those in Sussex are now registered for the NHS App, it shares, allowing for appointment letters, clinic letters, and blood test results to be viewed securely using a mobile device.

As well as making information quicker and easier to access, and helping teams to work more efficiently, the trust highlights a reduction in printing and postage by “around 100,000 letters each month”, saving the equivalent of 51 trees.

Whittington Hospital welcomes new surgical robot 

Whittington Hospital has welcomed a new surgical robot, named Hugo, to assist human surgeons in conducting precision surgery with less pain, a shorter hospital stay, and a faster recovery time.

The purchase was made thanks to funding from West and North London ICB. According to the trust, hopes are that it will enable more procedures to be carried out as day cases.

Expectations are for the first patients to be treated using Hugo later in the Spring, following installation, testing, and training on the new system.

Kidney Research UK introduces new organ transportation tech 

Kidney Research UK has invested in an organ transport system from Scuba Tx to help improve the way donor kidneys are preserved and transported.

The platform reportedly ensures organs are kept in a controlled environment with a precision temperature system, and oxygen provided through cannulation and a preservation fluid. It is hoped to help keep kidneys viable for longer to increase the number of organs successfully used in transplants.

David Crosby, the charity’s chief research officer, said: “Scuba Tx is exactly the kind of innovative technology that could change the way we transport and preserve donated kidneys, by maximising the use of donated organs and extending their healthy lifespan, while considering implementation. By investing in cutting-edge technology, we are driving a critical innovation that could change the future of kidney transplantation.”

King’s College London spin-out raises £17 million for real-time tissue imaging platform 

Hypervision Surgical, a spin-out from King’s College London, has announced that it has raised £17 million in Series A funding for its hyperspectral imaging technology.

The Hyperspectral Intelligence® platform offers surgeons real-time insights into tissue physiology that were “previously invisible” to the human eye, the company claims.
The platform has already been cleared by the FDA and certified in the UK, and plans are to use the funding for the commercial deployment of HYPERSNAP®, and advance Hypervision‘s “next-generation” sensor.