PUSH DOCTOR TO PROVIDE DIGITAL HEALTHCARE

Digital healthcare company, Push Doctor has been chosen as the digital partner for Hounslow GP Practices supported by Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare (HRCH) NHS trust, as integrated care partners.

The move will give over 300,000 people in the Hounslow community direct access to digital NHS GP appointments, whilst reducing workload for GPs in 45 practices, allowing clinicians to better manage their time in the face of unprecedented demand.

Patients will have direct access to book appointments from their smartphone or device 24/7, with appointments scheduled from 8am-8pm Monday – Friday, and 8am-5pm on Saturday. Appointments include same day prescriptions, instant sick notes and record syncing, where doctors’ notes will be available to the patient’s local GP surgery.

ECENTIAL ROBOTICS SECURES FUNDING

French robotics imaging company, eCential Robotics, has announced a major global financing and the rebranding of its identity. The rebranding contributes to the strengthening of the company's position as a rising player in surgical robotics.

The robotics company has secured financing totalling close to €100 million to support its industrial and commercial development. The company aims to cover all bone surgery indications through the development of surgical apps.

Investors include Bpifrance, Sigma Gestion, Med-Innov and the company’s founders and banks BNPParibas, Caisse d’Epargne Rhône Alpes and Crédit Agricole. The financing will enable eCential Robotics to finance its growth over a number of years. In terms of sales and marketing, eCential Robotics aims to consolidate its European base in France, Italy and Germany, and to eventually enter the North American market.

USING TECH TO SOLVE THE NHS MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

With the government announcing reforms to mental health provisions provided currently in the UK, mental health tech companies are seizing the opportunity to alleviate the mental health crisis currently seen across the nation.   

Mental health tech is increasingly being relied on when waiting times are likely to lengthen, as well as addressing those already in the system being periodically left between appointments without support. As remote therapies and appointments are becoming more common due to the necessity of remote contact throughout the various lockdowns, the reliance on these models is expected to increase.  

Co-founder and director of mental health wearable, Moodbeam, Christina Colmer McHugh said: “We’re receiving some fantastic comments from Moodbeam users, particularly from medical professionals who feel confident about recommending the product following its ORCHA approval and the businesses that have implemented device use."

MACCABI HEALTHCARE PARTNERS UP WITH COUCHBASE

One of the four Israeli healthcare maintenance organisations, Maccabi, is expanding their patient care experience by using Couchbase Mobile. The aim is to modernise technical infrastructure in order to provide a robust customer-centric mobile experience. With the COVID-19 vaccine being rolled-out for citizens, the need for this technology is expected to increase. 

Maccabi selected Couchbase, an enterprise-class NoSQL database to help deliver a personalised customer experience and build a robust modern tech stack solution. Couchbase has reached over 2.3 million customers by providing them access to manage their accounts via a mobile app.

Aviram Agmon, CTO at Maccabi said: “We wanted a solution that seamlessly works across server and mobile, and that the developers could use without lots of retraining. None of the other solutions came even close to Couchbase’s broad enterprise capabilities.”

AUTOMATION OF COVID-19 NHS STAFF VACCINATION PROGRAMMES

Healthcare IT specialist, Inform Health is launching software designed to enable NHS trusts to automate the management of COVID-19 vaccination programmes, for NHS and social care staff.

The software, which recently went live at a London teaching hospital, will deliver reductions in administrative resource for trusts, while facilitating participation in the biggest immunisation programme in history for appropriate staff.  

Responding to customer needs, Inform Health reconfigured its health information system, utilised by NHS sexual health services across the UK, to create the vaccination programme software. The software has been designed to function with minimal manual administration.

ORDR SELECTED BY UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL SOUTHAMPTON

Security and IoT company, Ordr, has announced that it has been named the solution of choice for the University Hospital Southampton NHS FT (UHS) in the UK.

UHS, in partnership with reseller SmartGate Group, deployed Ordr’s Systems Control Engine (SCE), which discovers and secures every connected device, including Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), Internet of Things (IoT) and Operational Technologies (OT). 

Darran Lebas, network and IT security manager, University Hospital Southampton NHS FT said: “We liked the simplicity of the Ordr solution coupled with its forensic level of insight. It’s very intuitive and quick to install, even on a network of this size, and instantly started to catalogue and risk profile every single device on our network.”

Adrian Byrne, IT director, University Hospital Southampton NHS FT said: “By delivering real-time device inventory, monitoring east-to-west communications and providing invaluable utilisation data, Ordr is proving to be a valuable asset to the trust and is a critical component of our cybersecurity strategy.”

The USH IT team has also recently worked with customer engagement solution provider, Netcall to develop a vaccination planning and tracking app to enabler quicker vaccinations for frontline workers.

REMOTE HEALTH TECH SUPPORTS COVID-19 RECOVERY TRIAL

Beam Research Studies, a new online service to help researchers deliver clinical trials and studies focused on physical movement and wellbeing, has been chosen to deliver a COVID-19 recovery trial.

Already used by The Royal Marsden, Kings College Hospital London, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, to deliver virtual exercise and wellbeing programmes to patients, the Beam platform has been adapted specially to assist in remote research projects during the pandemic.

The service was chosen by University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS trust to deliver its studies on the efficacy of exercise and behavioural sessions for COVID-19 recovery, alongside separate trials focusing on pulmonary hypertension rehab and postural tachycardia syndrome.