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

🌅 Altera Digital Health has announced the availability of Sunrise 25.1, the latest release of its integrated EPR system.  Designed in close collaboration with clients, nearly 700 new features and enhancements have been included to help support NHS productivity and efficiency goals.

🫶 Wigan Council has become the tenth local authority in the North West to roll out digital support for unpaid carers. The digital services – which include a community forum, advice guides and AI tools to help access financial support – are being delivered in partnership with the Mobilise digital community for carers. It means up to 275,000 people delivering unpaid care in the North West of England can now access an expanded range of support services.

👨‍👧‍👧 Male at-home fertility testing firm Sapyen has teamed up with pathology laboratory Acculabs Diagnostics in a 10-year deal that will see the duo roll out leading-edge sperm diagnostics that can be administered at home. According to Sapyen founder, Ash Ramachandran, the resulting diagnostics will “eliminate delays, degradation and misdiagnosis, delivering more reliable results than many in-clinic tests”.

👁️ Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust says that it has seen an improvement in efficiency and patient satisfaction since the introduction of its digital cataract service. The use of video consultations and the digitising of non-surgical processes has helped reduce waiting times for operations by four weeks. The digital service has also more than halved the pre-assessment stage, and seen a 97% uplift in patient satisfaction.

📈 A frailty virtual care programme is being trialled at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. Using the Graphnet Docobo platform patients with long-term conditions will be monitored remotely in a bid to spot early warning signs that, if missed, could lead to more intensive support needed. The trial takes place over a 12-month period with 200 patients monitored.

❓Did you know?

The European Commission has approved a €145.5 million funding package under the Digital Europe Programme, with €30 million earmarked for a new cybersecurity support centre specifically for hospitals. The investment aims to bolster Europe’s digital defences and promote the safe deployment of generative AI technologies across the continent.

Commenting, Peter Sandkuijl, vice president of engineering at cybersecurity firm Check Point Software, said that that although the funding is “a meaningful first step”, the scale of the threat landscape across 27 member states mean means that it may fail to make an impact unless “tightly focused and effectively allocated”. 

“There’s a risk that such a relatively modest sum may be spread too thin to deliver real impact, especially when many hospitals face deep-rooted challenges like technical debt and outdated infrastructure,” he added.

📖 What we’re reading

A blog on the BMJ website, published on 28 May 2025, highlights emerging concerns about the UK’s approach to regulating AI in healthcare.

Authors Mark Dayan, policy analyst and head of public affairs at Nuffield Trust and and Cyril Lobont, researcher at Nuffield Trust, warn that companies may decide not to bring sophisticated technology to the UK due to the costs involved.

While regulations in the UK and Europe are essentially the same, the EU requires a Fundamental Rights Impact Assessment to be conducted, unlike the UK, meaning that firms may need to prove compliance twice and bear the associated costs.

They also note two possible tipping points: the first that the UK may make the decision to no longer accept EU approvals of medical devices.

The second is the AI Act being applied in Northern Ireland through the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol. This adds a layer of complexity, as AI-enabled medical software in Northern Ireland will likely need to comply with EU standards, creating a fragmented regulatory landscape across the UK.

This could lead to inconsistent patient protections and increased compliance costs for manufacturers, the blog says.

🚨Upcoming events

17-18 July, University of Warwick – Summer Schools 2025