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

😊Bupa has expanded its at-home skin assessment service, allowing customers to upload images they are concerned about to the Skin Analytics app for fast access to dermatology support. Images are reviewed by a Bupa-certified dermatologist within three days.

🧠 A Royal Berkshire Hospital study has demonstrated that Brainomix software was able to triple the number of stroke patients who achieved functional independence – from 16% up to 48%. The Brainomix platform is powered by AI algorithms and supports clinicians’ decision-making with real-time interpretation of brain scans.

💰Salient Bio has secured £2.35m in seed funding to speed up its pipeline of microbiome-based diagnostic tools, including a test for inflammatory bowel disease. The company is developing at-home, non-invasive tests through its SIGNAL platform, which supports faster, more accurate diagnostics through automation, microbiome data and machine learning.

👩‍🎓 The fifth version of a virtual patient is being used by healthcare students to help them practise their communication skills in clinical practice scenarios, according to a 3 September press release. ‘Sarah’ was developed at Coventry University in collaboration with students, academics, clinicians and AI firm PCS, and can hold real-time conversations.

💶 French AI HealthTech startup, ArcaScience, has raised £7m in funding, which it intends to use to fuel expansion in the US and UK. It will also launch of a patient-facing solution, initially for paediatric brain cancer and dermatology and recruit a chief medical officer to accelerate clinical impact. The company hopes to transform drug development with AI-powered benefit-risk intelligence.

❓Did you know?

A report from vpnMentor examines the risks associated with wearable devices. Researchers examined 117 wearable devices from 33 different brands, and then explored the data-sharing practices of the brands being studied.

They found that 90% of 117 wearable devices track health and wellness metrics, making it the most widely monitored category.

Analysis of the wearable brands revealed that 63% record location data, either via built-in GPS or connected GPS through a smartphone, 23% of major wearable brands explicitly share or sell personal data to advertisers or marketing partners and 55% share de-identified biometric data with outside researchers.

📖 What we’re reading

In a long read, ‘Delivering a neighbourhood health plan: what the 10 year health plan means for local integration‘, published on 26 August 2025, Jack Sansum, shares case studies from NHS Confederation members, who are having success with neighbourhood working.

He also explores three neighbourhood health provider examples – the alliance model, primary care model and system-wide model – through relevant case studies highlighting the impact they are having.

Consideration is given to how each sector can play its part in supporting neighbourhood working, where the focus is on partnership, innovation, shared leadership and embedding population health approaches.

Sansum writes: “Delivering on this ambition will require a commitment of sustained investment in digital and estates, support for the NHS’ workforce, and a commitment to decentralise control by empowering local leaders to do what is best for their communities.”

🚨Upcoming events

2 October 2025, London – Celebrating the future of health