Dedalus Group buys Swiftqueue Technologies

Healthcare software provider Dedalus Group announced it has completed the acquisition of appointment and scheduling solution provider, Swiftqueue Technologies Ltd.

The cloud-native Swiftqueue solution enables patients to access healthcare services provided from hospitals, clinics and specialists. It includes appointment solutions for phlebotomy clinics, diagnostic imaging, vaccination services and multiple care pathways across acute and community services.

“A real advantage is the speed in which the Swiftqueue technology can be deployed, as healthcare organisations find themselves under tremendous pressure to manage growing waiting lists,” said Colin Henderson, Dedalus managing director, UK & Ireland.

Transatlantic partnership announced to accelerate digital health firms

Accelerator programmes DigitalHealth.London and Cedars-Sinai have announced a partnership to support international adoption of health tech companies from the US and UK.

The collaboration will utilise the healthcare knowledge and networks held by both organisations, to support companies who have taken part in either of the Accelerator programmes.

Dr Tim Ferris, director of transformation at NHSE, said: “The NHS has a lot of knowledge to share, and there is also much we can learn from other countries. It is vital we use these connections to promote effective ways of improving patient care and work environments for busy NHS staff.”

Graphnet acquires remote monitoring specialist Docobo

Integrated care record and population health software supplier Graphnet has announced the acquisition of care at home specialist Docobo. 

Graphnet, which is part of System C & Graphnet Care Alliance, plans to integrate the DOC@HOME patient monitoring system into its CareCentric population health platform and other solutions.

Docobo managing director, Adrian Flowerday, said: “With hospital waiting lists over 5.5 million, and trusts under increasing pressure as a result, remotely managing chronic patients with long term conditions at home and proactively responding to deterioration in a community setting has never been more imperative.”

MedicAlert partners with North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust

Medical ID bracelet charity, MedicAlert will provide three years free membership and a medical ID to staff at North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust living with a medical condition.

The MedicAlert service ensures that people caring for an individual have access to vital medical information in an emergency.

Buki Adeyemo, executive director at North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “Health and wellbeing is important to us as a trust - supporting our staff and service users living with a medical condition by providing access to a potentially life-saving service is something we are very excited to be part of.”

Ambulance service declares critical incident after IT outage

South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) NHS Trust declared a critical incident after suffering network issues which affected a number of systems including its computer aided dispatch system (CAD).

On Thursday (17 Nov) the trust issued a statement requesting patients to “consider alternatives to 999, including NHS 111, unless it’s absolutely essential.”  Later that day it announced the IT systems were now fully functioning. 

The incident follows a similar problem with the CAD and telephony systems reported by East of England Ambulance NHS Trust (EEAST) on 10 November.