Digital Health Coffee Time Briefing ☕ 

Your morning summary of digital health news, information and events to know about if you want to be “in the know”.

👇 News   

☁️ Navenio, a global leader in the delivery of Real-Time Location Services (RTLS) for hospitals and health systems, announced today membership in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network. The AWS Partner Network is a global partner program for technology and consulting businesses that leverage AWS to build solutions and services for customers. APN member companies have proven their ability to leverage the plethora of AWS tools to boost their own customers’ success, help them innovate, and stay ahead of the competition. AWS has more than 200 global cloud-based services that help organizations expedite their operations, reduce IT expenses, and expand their capabilities. 

👩‍⚕️ Stroke research nurses from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have won the prestigious Nursing Times Award for Clinical Research Nursing. The Award, which was presented to the team at the Nursing Times Awards 2023 ceremony last week, was given in recognition of an innovative trial tracker that allows for rapid screening of patients into research trials. The team beat off competition from a record high number of entries in the Clinical Research Nursing category. Over 600 nursing teams from across the NHS entered the Nursing Times Awards 2023, which are one of the most sought-after awards in the industry.  

📲 NHS Norfolk Community Trust, a leading provider of community-based NHS health services, has reduced incidents of connectivity and data loss issues for doctors, carers and nurses, with Absolute Software by 99%. The trust has a team of over 800 nurses which visit more than 8,000 patients every day. The one-to-one care system enables the tailored healthcare solutions for vulnerable and elderly patients. However, 3G and 4G connectivity issues and data loss challenges meant that over 600 incident reports were being logged every week. In many cases, nurses found that data would regularly be lost and often spent valuable time logging back into the secure network. Following a review of IT solutions to tackle the problem, the trust chose Absolute Software Secure Access to improve connectivity and free up nurses to concentrate on patientcare. 

 ❤ HeartBeat.bio AG, a biotech company building a highly scalable human organoid and AI-supported drug discovery platform for heart disease, today announced the closing of a €4.5 million Pre-Series A round co-led by i&i Biotech Fund, Invest AG, aws Gründungsfonds II, and Tensor Ventures. The financing enables the completion of a ready-to-use, fully integrated, automated, high-throughput Cardioid Drug Discovery Platform for proprietary and collaborative drug discovery programs in indications with a high medical need such as drug-induced and genetic cardiomyopathies as well as myocardial infarction and fibrosis. 

 🧐 Technologies like wearables and virtual reality could become key tools in engaging neurodiverse patient populations, streamlining provider workflows and tracking outcomes, payers, therapists and tech founders said during a recent virtual roundtable. 

❓ Did you know that? 

A survey by Asda Online found that 22% of the UK use AI once a week, with just over 1 in 10 people using it every single day. As you might expect, younger generations like Gen Z (ages 18-26) and Millennials (ages 27-42) are the ones using AI the most. In fact, according to our survey, 15% of Gen Z use AI every day, while 29% use it at least once a week, with Millennials just behind, 26% using it once a week. Over one in eight UK adults’ first port of call is Dr Google. Gen Z is also very sceptical of professional medical advice, with 42% stating that they’ve questioned a doctor’s diagnosis based on information they’ve found online. Additionally, nearly 3 in 10 of those who use AI every day said they would trust AI to give them medical advice – with 15% of men trusting AI compared to 12% of women on average – showing that people would feel comfortable turning to platforms like ChatGPT when they have medical issues. 

 📖 What we’re reading 

The most advanced technology companies will allow governments to vet their AI tools for the first time, Rishi Sunak has announced, as Elon Musk warned the technology could eventually replace all human jobs. Companies including Meta, Google DeepMind and OpenAI have agreed to allow regulators to test their latest AI products before releasing them to the public, in a move that officials say will slow the race to develop systems that can compete with humans. Speaking to reporters at the end of the summit, Sunak said: “I believe the achievements of this summit will tip the balance in favour of humanity,” The Guardian reports. 

 🚨 This week’s events 

 3 November, NatWest Conference Centre, London – AI in Healthcare Transformation Forum