The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust expands Hyland Healthcare suite

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust has selected Hyland’s PACSgear image capture solution to integrate with its existing OnBase content services platform and new Epic electronic patient record (EPR) system.

The new digital health record (DHR) falls under the hospital’s digital transformation programme and began in August last year, with Epic going live across the trust from March 2023.

Lisa Emery, chief information officer, The Royal Marsden, said: “These technologies all work seamlessly together to create a comprehensive patient record, which helps us achieve one of our ultimate goals – for our care providers to be able to make the most informed decisions possible.”

Clinical trial uses digital education platform to understand fatal genetic diseases in children

A clinical trial researching a class of rare inherited disorders will incorporate online educational resources to improve participant understanding of the study.

The PRONTO natural history study, launched by Dutch biotech firm Azafaros, will follow children diagnosed with GM1 or GM2 gangliosidosis (also known as Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff disease) in the UK, US, France, Italy, Germany and Brazil for four years.

Patients taking part in the study and their families can access a series of educational interactive animations via a dedicated online knowledge centre developed by health information provider Cognitant, together with patient advisory groups. 

Dr Tim Ringrose, CEO, Cognitant said: “It has been a privilege to work with the GM1 / GM2 community to help families understand what to expect from the PRONTO natural history study.”

AstraZeneca partners with WEF EDISON Alliance to enhance digital inclusion

Pharma giant AstraZeneca has announced a commitment to join the World Economic Forum (WEF) EDISON Alliance, a public-private partnership that aims to improve the lives of one billion people through digital inclusion by 2025.

As part of the challenge, AstraZeneca pledged to screen five million patients in Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East and Africa, through its partnership with health tech startup Qure.ai, which applies artificial intelligence (AI) to chest X-Rays to support the early detection and diagnosis of lung cancer.

Leif Johannsson, chair, AstraZeneca, said: “We look forward to deepening our collaboration with partners of the WEF EDISON Alliance to accelerate scalable and affordable digital solutions to help improve access to healthcare and transform patient outcomes, especially in underserved communities.”

Report says AI standards are essential to protect doctor-patient relationships

A Council of Europe report has called for clear ethical standards and guidance for the use of AI in health settings to protect the trust between doctors and patients and safeguard human rights.

The report written by Dr Brent Mittelstadt, director of research at the Oxford Internet Institute and data ethicist, advises that use of AI remains “unproven” and could undermine the “healing relationship”.

“Recommendations should focus on a higher positive standard of care with regards to the doctor-patient relationship to ensure it is not unduly disrupted by the introduction of AI in care settings,” Dr Mittelstadt said.