NHS England is hosting a virtual event designed for suppliers intending to bid for NHS contracts, with the aim of offering guidance around new Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP) requirements. The webinar will cover the requirements in place from April 2024, which sees the NHS “proportionately extend the Carbon Reduction Plan requirements to cover all procurements” following April 2023’s requirements, which necessitated CRPs from suppliers from all new contracts above £5 million per annum. NHSE states that in order to ensure that CRP requirements are extended in a “proportionate and relevant manner” t ..read more

For our latest HTN Now panel discussion, we were joined by Sarah Hanbridge, chief clinical information officer (nursing, midwifery & AHP) at Leeds Teaching Hospital, and Ciara Moore, unified EPR programme director at Mid & South Essex and Essex Partnerships University Trust, for a conversation focused on engaging boards and workforces with digital buy-in. Sarah and Ciara began with sharing their background and current role, as well as some of the digital projects and focuses they have at the moment. Sarah provided insight into her time so far as CCIO at Leeds Teaching Hospital focusing ..read more

Medtech start-up MyOpNotes, a digital platform designed to streamline the writing of operation notes for surgeons whilst capturing data for research and audit purposes, has been awarded Innovate UK grant funding to support the integration of its technology into the NHS. The platform offers an automated system capable of capturing “precise” data from surgeons and subsequently assigning clinical codes, with features including evidence-based templates, the ability to include diagrams, photos or videos into the operation note, and the ability to save the note directly into the patient record. MyOp ..read more

For HTN Now, we were joined by panellists including Ricardo Pereira, associate director of transformation at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust; Dr Gorana Kovacevic, clinical lead for Hospital at Home at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire; and Chris Taylor, director of partnerships at Isla Health. Our panel shared their insight and experience on virtual wards and remote monitoring, covering common challenges and how to tackle them, as well as providing an update on current projects. Ricardo was the first to share some insights from his role and his work on delivering a remot ..read more

The Golden Jubilee University National Hospital has introduced the WelcoMe accessibility tool to allow patients to create and manage their own accessibility profile, detailing any specific needs and helping to put people with disabilities “in control of their service experience”. Features of the WelcoMe tool include the ability for patients to set up personalised assistance for the time they arrive at hospital and throughout their patient journey, access to accessibility and assistance information, and the opportunity for patients to receive direct communication and support, including changes ..read more

Following the publication of the Department of Health and Social Care’s medical technology strategy last February, an update exploring progress made over the past year has been shared, highlighting how work has gone into enhancing the innovation pathway, enabling infrastructure, and providing new funding. When it comes to entry points for medical technology, DHSC highlights the launch of the Innovative Devices Access Pathway pilot in September 2023, bringing together regulatory, assessment and NHS partners “to provide enhanced support through a sequential pathway”; the publication of ..read more

We recently sat down with Max Gattlin and Sharon Hanley of Hanley Consulting, for a chat about their ‘Automated Assistant for General Practice’ EDATT (Enabling Digital Access Through Telephony), their drive to optimise access and experience for patients, and their overall mission to help reduce pressure on primary care and allow them to take back time to work on proactive, preventative measures. Sharon, as the managing director of Hanley Consulting, has 26 years in primary care and the NHS, having worked in various roles across general practice, community and not-for-profit organisations, prim ..read more

Digital health and data across the ICS regions in 2024: North East and Yorkshire Following our exploration of the 2024 digital healthcare landscape in London, we’re moving our attention to the North East and Yorkshire ICS region.  This region is home to four integrated care systems: Humber and North Yorkshire, North East and North Cumbria, South Yorkshire, and West Yorkshire. We’ll be delving into digital strategies and board representation, exploring data from each area, hearing insights directly from the ICSs and more. Digital strategies in the North East and Yorkshire Do th ..read more

Care management software provider Log my Care has announced an additional £3 million in funding from existing investor Mercia Ventures, bringing the total raised to over £7 million and contributing to plans to “further establish Log my Care as a leading supplier to the learning disability sector and help expand its presence in home care”. The platform enables carers to access medical records, record notes and receive prompts and reminders via an app. Offering features including care plans, risk assessment, daily logs, handovers and to-do lists, it is designed to support care managers in i ..read more

The Welsh Ambulance Service, in partnership with the University of Warwick and SkyBound, is exploring the feasibility of delivering a defibrillator via drone following a 999 call, by a conducting a number of test flights through the Drone-Delivered Defibrillators study. The study, originally funded by Resuscitation Council UK, has received additional funding from National Institute of Health Research and Health and Care Research Wales to enable it to enter its next phase. Over the summer, a research team will perform long-stance ‘beyond visual line of sight’ flights, with the aim of demonstrat ..read more