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

🦘 System C has announced the acquisition of Australian health and care management tech provider MYP Technologies. It supports the firm’s plans to expand its social care and maternity product offerings across Australia and New Zealand, where it has a national contract to provide the System C maternity platform.

🚑 East of England Ambulance Service has become the first in the UK to offer live video guidance to 999 callers who are reporting cardiac arrests. Using the GoodSAM video application, callers will receive a text message with a link to a two-way video call. Control room paramedics can then assess and guide CPR technique in real-time until help arrives.

🚼 The University Maternity Hospital Limerick has become the fifth hospital in Ireland to introduce the national Maternal & Newborn Clinical Management System. The electronic health record, which went live between 5 July and 7 July 2025, replaces paper-based records with the aim of supporting better coordinated care and enhanced patient safety for women and newborn babies.

📱 NHS staff and their families can now access to fitness, nutrition and mental wellbeing support through the Everything App. It offers a preventative solution to burn-out through on-demand sessions including pilates, meditation, family workouts, cooking sessions plus live fitness streaming. The app has been adopted by 158 NHS trusts, as well as 40 NHS organisations such as integrated care boards, care homes and GP practices.

👩‍💻 MiCode Medical Ltd has announced a collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital to evaluate the MiCode tool. Under the 10-year agreement MiCode will provide 1,000 QR codes to GOSH patients. The QR codes offer a secure, encrypted way for healthcare professionals and first responders to access vital medical details digitally.

😴 London-based healthtech company 32Co is launching a nationwide network of sleep centres in summer 2025 to treat mild to moderate sleep apnoea and problematic snoring. Patients will be able to access treatment via high-retention Mandibular Advancement Devices, non-invasive retainer devices that keep airwaves open. The first clinics will open in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Bristol.

❓Did you know?

Off-the-shelf self-test kits for health conditions may not be as accurate as users believe, according to research from the University of Birmingham, which found little to no evidence to support accuracy claims.

Researchers also found some of the kits to be tricky to use at home or had faulty equipment, affecting their accuracy.

The research team purchased 30 self-test kits from UK supermarkets, pharmacies and health shops in 2023, for a range of conditions, including bowel cancer, blood cholesterol, menopause and vitamin deficiency.

Accuracy claims were made by 24 of the kits, with 14 of them stating they were 98% accurate. However, the study uncovered little accessible evidence to support these claims.

Of the 30 kits, 18 had issues that could lead to faulty results; there were 11 instances of faulty equipment,10 counts of problems in the sampling process, and 15 kits included unclear instructions or interpretation guidance.

Researchers also noted that the tests’ value was limited, as instructions for nearly all of them recommended seeing a doctor regardless of their test result.

📖 What we’re reading

Feebris’s white paper, A Roadmap to Delivering the NHS of the Future: From a Service-Led to a Person-Centred Model of Care, published in July 2025, outlines a strategic delivery model for the NHS, emphasising a shift towards digital, community-based and preventative care, following the publication of the government’s 10 year health plan.

Key proposals include scaling proven digital health solutions, repositioning hospitals as integral community health contributors, and embedding preventive strategies throughout all care levels.

The model champions a blend of virtual hospitals and proactive neighbourhood care, projecting estimated savings costs between £110m and £270m.

Feebris cites practical examples, such as a successful remote monitoring pathway for heart failure patients in Kent and the impact of virtual wards in Norfolk and Waveney on reducing hospital admissions.

🚨Upcoming events

16 September, Institute for Government – How can changes to NHS incentives help deliver the 10 year health plan?