Digital Health Coffee Time Briefing ☕

  • 23 January 2025
Digital Health Coffee Time Briefing ☕

Your morning summary of digital health news, information and events to know about if you want to be “in the know”.

👇 News

🧠 Health tech company Medtronic has received CE mark approval for its BrainSense Adaptive Deep Brain stimulation (aDBS) and BrainSense Electrode Identifier technology. The kit delivers deep brain stimulation therapy to people with Parkinson’s disease, and works by transmitting electric signals to the brain to disrupt unwanted movements. BrainSense aDBS can be configured to deliver therapy tailored to individual patients.

🏡 People aged 50 and 52 will automatically be sent home testing kits for bowel cancer as the NHS steps up its screening programme. Some 850,000 people in England are now eligible for the screening kits, which are sent every two years. The NHS is also calling on more people to enrol in the initiative, with figures showing that uptake is lower in people aged 54–59.

🏆 Trainee surgeon Amar Rajgor has been recognised for his research into using AI to improve throat cancer outcomes. Rajgor, a specialist at the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and an NIHR doctoral fellow, scooped both the Thought Leader award and Digital and Technology Award at the Northern NPH Ethnic Minority Powerlist 2024.

⛅ Google Cloud has announced a five-year expansion to its partnership with pharmaceuticals group, Servier, to accelerate its digital transformation and bolster AI use in drug discovery. The partnership will also see Servier deploy AI tools for its employees based on Google’s Gemini, helping to boost efficiency across the board – from R&D to production and distribution.

💊 Electronic prescribing and medicines administration (EPMA) has been introduced at every inpatient ward at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. The rollout began in 2024 with the trust’s 17 mental health inpatient wards. EPMA has now been deployed across all four inpatient wards in Cambridge, Peterborough, Wisbech and Ely.

Did you know?

BT is urging the UK’s critical national infrastructure (CNI) providers to move faster in adopting digital connectivity after finding that 60% of its CNI customers “have no plan in place” to migrate away from legacy analogue networks.

The UK’s Public Switched Telephone Network – which was introduced in the late 1800s – is due to be switched off in January 2027. It was initially due to be retired in 2025.

BT’s research found that health was lagging behind other sectors in terms of making the transition, with 64% of BT customers in the health industry yet to put a plan in place.

Bas Burger, chief executive, business at BT, said: “We’re urging all Critical National Infrastructure providers to act now to help protect their services and reap the long-term benefits of going digital.

“Waiting until the analogue switch-off is too late. We’re working with customers to review their technology estate, test their critical devices and switch to more reliable connectivity by the end of 2025.”

🎧 What we’re listening to

In the latest episode of the Health on the Line podcast, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of NHS Confederation is joined by Sarah Woolnough, chief executive at The King’s Fund, and Harry Quilter-Pinner, executive director at the IPPR, to discuss what the NHS should prioritise in the forthcoming 10 year health plan.

They explore the importance of access to care, the need for a focus on prevention and the potential for a mission-driven government to reshape health policy. The discussion highlights the barriers to effective health investment and the necessity for innovative approaches to improve health outcomes and financial sustainability.

🚨 Upcoming events

30 January, virtual event – NHS Digital Transformation 2025

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