Digital Health Coffee Time Briefing ☕

News

19 May 2026

September 18, 2025

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

👇 News

👸 Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s electronic patient record (EPR) teams have been named Digital Transformation Runners‑Up 2026 at the South East Digital Skills Development Network Awards. The accolade celebrates the collaborative work of the trust’s EPR and electronic prescribing and medicines administration teams, who were highly commended by the judging panel for their strong collaboration, quality, and impact.

🫁 Brainomix has announced an expansion of its partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim, a biopharmaceutical company providing therapeutic options for interstitial lung disease, to improve the care of patients with progressive pulmonary fibrosis. Brainomix’s AI-driven imaging software platform automatically detects and quantifies abnormalities on thoracic CT scans, helping clinicians more easily identify changes, including subtle deterioration across multiple timepoints.

💡 Care homes across Lancashire and South Cumbria have recorded a reduction in falls after adopting AI‑enabled smart lighting technology, according to an evaluation involving almost 80 care homes. The independent assessment found that falls were reduced by around 32%, alongside faster staff response times and fewer emergency call‑outs, after care homes introduced Nobi’s AI‑powered smart lights.

🏥 Property regeneration specialist Scarborough Group International has formally completed the acquisition of the Grade II listed Old Medical School from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The 130-year-old building is the first phase in the development of the Innovation Village, a facility for science, research, technology, and innovation which is expected to create 4,000 jobs and bring £13 billion in economic benefits and development to Leeds city centre.

🩸 A new blood test that could help detect Alzheimer’s disease earlier has been approved for use in the UK, makers Roche have announced. Elecsys pTau217 is a blood test that measures the pTau protein, an indicator of amyloid pathology and a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. The blood-based biomarker can be used to help rule in or rule out Alzheimer’s in people over 55 presenting with symptoms of cognitive decline.

❓ Did you know that?

Research from Elsevier’s Clinician of the Future 2026 report reveals emerging gaps in AI adoption, especially for clinician-specific solutions.

A total of 41% of nurses report feeling underrepresented both in AI use and in organisational decision-making around AI, according to the global survey, which drew responses from 2,757 clinicians across 118 countries between December 2025 and February 2026.

Meanwhile, 61% of clinicians surveyed, including nurses and doctors, are seeing more patients and 56% are struggling to keep up with medical and tech advances.

Nearly half (49%) use AI at work, but only a third of that group regularly use clinical-specific tools that provide validated, sourced information, while 80% say AI will become a critical assistant within the next decade, and nearly as many (79%) believe AI skills will be essential for clinician training.

📖 What we’re reading

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published a blog setting out five practical steps organisations should take to protect themselves, and the personal data they hold, against the growing threat of AI-powered cyber-attacks.

The 14 May blog post by Ian Hulme, ICO interim executive director for regulatory supervision, lays out how cyber criminals are increasingly using AI to carry out attacks that are faster, more advanced and harder to detect.

He says the threat landscape is evolving rapidly, from AI-generated phishing emails that impersonate trusted contacts, to automated tools that scan for and exploit software vulnerabilities.

The five steps are understanding potential threats, having multiple layers of defence, restricting access points, improving detection, monitoring and incident response, and protecting personal data.

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