The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared UnitedHealth’s £1.2bn purchase of EMIS. In August, the CMA provisionally cleared and found no competition concerns for the proposed deal, leading to a final confirmation announcement on 29 September 2023 that “the transaction does not raise competition concerns” and has “cleared the deal […]
Primary Care News
General Practice Improvement Programme focuses on improving telephone journeys
NHS England, as part of its General Practice Improvement Programme, has shared a support offer to focus on improving telephone journeys in general practice. Aiming to support practices and PCNs in choosing, purchasing and optimising the use of advanced cloud-based telephony, the guidance covers the functionality offered; the use of call […]
Thought leadership: insights from HTN speakers on digital primary care
This week at HTN, we’ve been publishing a series of thought leadership features with insight from a range of health tech professionals; so far we have covered AI and data; patient flow and how to support hospital efficiencies; shared care records and the benefits of improving patient records. Now, we’re turning […]
Primary care recovery plan update: more than 1,000 practices sign up for digital telephony
More than 1,000 general practices have signed up to upgrade their phone systems from analogue to digital as part of the government’s plans to modernise NHS primary care services, according to an update from the Department of Health and Social Care on progress made around the primary care recovery plan […]
Wales to begin testing electronic prescription service in primary care
Live testing of a new electronic prescription service (EPS) is about to begin in Wales, which will see prescriptions sent electronically from a GP practice to a patient’s pharmacy of choice, negating the need for paper forms. The transition from paper-based processes to a digital service is being described as […]
AI model to support dentists in detecting tooth decay and gum disease
A platform which allows an AI model to recognise abnormalities in anatomical structures has been developed by King’s College London and the University of Surrey in collaboration with Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust and Oral Health Foundation, with the project aiming to “provide a one-stop solution to both collect and […]
Markets authority provisionally clears £1.2 billion EMIS purchase
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally cleared and found no competition concerns for UnitedHealth’s proposed £1.2 billion purchase of EMIS. The CMA noted that while the merging businesses do not supply competing services, Optum part of UnitedHealth, and its competitors use the data that EMIS holds and integrate […]
Digital primary care panel: “Getting the basics right and keeping it simple are the underpinning principles”
For our recent panel discussion on digital primary care, we were joined by Nikki Mallinder (director of primary care at Surrey Heartlands ICS); Dr Paul Wright, (GP, deputy clinical director/IT clinical lead at NHS Greater Manchester and CCIO at Manchester and Trafford Local Care Organisation); Jamie Innes (product director at Inhealthcare); […]
Deep dive: community pharmacy and dentistry in digital focus
The Fuller stocktake, published last summer, stated that engagement activities for the purposes of the report “heard very clearly” that the wider primary care team “could be much more effectively harnessed” to support patient access to primary care, with community pharmacy and dentistry noted as particular examples. A year on […]
Identifying, signposting and co-designing: NHS England on digital inclusion in general practice
NHS England has published guidance on supporting digital inclusion in general practice, designed for healthcare staff and “anyone else who is seeking to reduce digital exclusion in general practice”. The guidance is based on examples of good practice shared from primary care organisations and VCSEs across the country. The NHS […]
