Industry news in brief

This Digital Health News industry roundup includes an Innovate UK Smart Award for a smart inhaler tracker, details on the digital transformation programme for Research Data Scotland and Cera’s commitment to reduce hospitalisations with its digital healthcare approach.

Care home platform saves hours of admin time

Customer analysis of a care home admin platform has revealed that it can save a significant number of hours in admin time for care homes.

The CoolCare software focuses on making admin more efficient and more profitable. Its most recent analysis found that many of its customers were seeing results above pre-pandemic levels, including above-national increases in weekly fees, occupancy and private payer ratios.

With increased occupancy, comes more admin. However, where the CoolCare platform is being used to run invoicing and fee adjustments, care homes are saving an average of half a day per month.

In addition, the platform has functionality which is saving homes on average 11 hours to process shift requests. This is also reducing the reliance on external staffing agencies.

Fiona Hale, managing director at CoolCare, said: “CoolCare has been around for 30 years and we’ve learned a lot in that time about how we truly make a difference in the day-to-day running of care homes.

“The administration requirements have increased consistently in that time so to see such positive results in 2022 by saving so much admin time for our customers is great, and something we have every intention of building on this year and beyond.”

DNV acquires MBI Healthcare Technologies

Global quality assurance and risk management provider, DNV, has acquired MBI Healthcare Technologies in a move that will help tackle the growing clinical risks arising from dirty data.

MBI Healthcare Technologies supplies healthcare providers with AI-backed tech and data quality expertise to reduce safety risks, make care more efficient and reduce wait times for elective treatment.

It provides a quality-assured overview of who is waiting for treatment, when and where. The LUNA platform visualises the status of individual patient journeys through their care pathway.

It also scans clinical documents for any inaccuracies about patients’ status in their treatment. Identified inaccurate patient data can then be cleansed in electronic health record systems.

Remi Eriksen, group president and CEO of DNV, said: “DNV’s investment in MBI Healthcare Technologies aims to accelerate data quality improvements in the healthcare sector.

“MBI Healthcare Technologies has developed sector-leading services and with their artificial intelligence-powered solution we will make a significant impact on the digital transformation of the healthcare system.

“With this investment we will further enhance DNV’s strength in providing trust and assurance to the healthcare sector.”

By joining forces the two companies will work to rapidly scale the company’s solutions in the UK and bring new data assurance technologies to the healthcare sector.

Aseptika wins Innovate UK Smart Award for Smart Inhaler Tracker

Aseptika has won a Smart Award from Innovate UK, which will help fund the development of its third-generation smart inhaler tracker.

The new inhaler is set to have 5G mobile connectivity built-in, eliminating the problem of previous smart inhalers requiring a mobile phone connection. Patients will be able to send their data to clinical teams, carers or parents over the airwaves directly to the company’s cloud databases – which are stored under the UK’s GDPR data protection laws.

Not only will the PUFFClicker 3 be capable of transferring data safely and smartly but it will also provide information and advice to patients on how to take their medicines properly.

The software will run on Aspetika’s Medi-OS medical-grade operating system, which allows it to be approved as a medical device in the UK as well as in other countries.

The collected data is easier to export for using 5G and enables the device to be work with locally developed Apps without the need to connect to them by Bluetooth, which helps make integration quick, cheap and means the apps don’t have to be certified as a Class IIa medical device to display the PUFFClicker 3 information.

Aspetika is anticipating production for the PUFFClicker 3 will commence by the end of 2023, with launch taking place early 2024.

Nexer Digital to deliver digital transformation programme for Research Data Scotland

Nexer Digital has been chosen to deliver a six-month digital transformation programme that will support Research Data Scotland’s mission to simplify and speed up access to public sector data.

Research Data Scotland enables access to, and the linking of data about, people, places and businesses to improve the health and social wellbeing of the country.

The £300,000 project will see Nexer Digital design a new ‘data access service’ to reduce the time it takes researchers to identify and access data without compromising on scrutiny or security. The new system will be quicker, easier and simpler to use.

The work will also involve re-platforming and re-designing the Research Data Scotland website to set out the organisation’s purpose as well as be an entry point for researchers.

Hugh Wallace, chief information officer at Research Data Scotland, said: “One of the main reasons that RDS exists is to simplify and speed up access to public sector data, and in turn enable this data to be used for research purposes in the public good.

“Working together we have the chance to design and streamline the system to enhance applications and approvals processes and offer an end-to-end digital journey for the first time.”

Lister Hospital maternity department unveils LifeStart resuscitator trolley

Lister Hospital’s maternity department has taken delivery of a LifeStart resuscitator trolley following a legacy left to East and North Hertfordshire Hospitals’ Charity.

The trolley allows for the care of premature babies to take place at their mother’s bedside, even for those babies that require resuscitation.

The £15,000 unit ensures clinicians are able to support baby’s breathing and heart rate immediately after birth. It also supports the delayed clamping of the umbilical cord which maximises the volume of blood infants receive from the placenta, as babies are able to stay by their mothers while receiving attention.

Consultant obstetrician, Dr Rachel Wooldridge, explained: “When babies are born prematurely, it is hard to implement delayed cord clamping as they often need to go to a special unit for additional help with their breathing and heart rate.

“The LifeStart resuscitator trolley is a small and mobile machine that can be placed next to the mother so that the cord can remain intact whilst care is given to the baby.”

In addition, it also has a heated mattress, to ensure babies are kept warm.

Cera targets over a million visits in January

Healthcare provider Cera is setting its sights on exceeding a million health visits this month, as it throws its support behind Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s promise to cut NHS waiting lists.

The company is helping to keep people out of hospital with its AI-powered care model. The machine learning technology is capable of anticipating up to 80% of hospitalisations seven days in advance, and reducing hospitalisations by as much as 52%.

The Cera app is used to collect patients’ symptoms and health data and data analytics are using to predict deteriorations.

Dr Ben Maruthappu MBE, CEO and co-founder of Cera, said: “Using machine learning and data analytics, Cera offers a care solution that does more with less and keeps patients safely at home through predictive technology.

“Moving healthcare services from the hospital to the home reduces the cost of healthcare ten-fold – the cost-effective solution the country needs.”

Last month Cera rolled out its rapid discharge service in the Midlands, Yorkshire, Cheshire and Merseyside.

The service digitises the matching of the right carer or nurse with a patient allowing around 80% of patients to be discharged and seen by a Cera carer or nurse the same. This scheme is due to be rolled out nation-wide.