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  

🕶 Barts Health NHS Trust have completed their migration to Medisoft’s mediSIGHT speciality ophthalmology EMR. The team effort was lead by Medisoft’s Project and Implementation Manager, Lidia Manconi, who coordinated many sites and users to deliver a complex project. Commenting on the achievement, Lidia said: “The staff at Barts were highly supportive, cooperative and patient with the change. We received some great feedback on site about the system and our support.” Samantha Harding, ophthalmology consultant at Barts, also commented on Medisoft’s support, saying that Medisoft provided “very good aftercare with good attention during the surgical session”. 

🧑‍⚕️ More than half of the UK workforce (51%) want private healthcare insurance at work as concerns around access to healthcare grows, with dental insurance topping the list of asks as access to NHS dentists causes nationwide concerns. That’s according to new research by specialist recruitment firm Robert Half. 

☝ Novari Health has named Angela Single  as Director, UK Business Development. 

🔌 WellnessWits has created an innovative solution enhancing access to care, clinical efficiency, and better outcomes through Group Therapeutics technology, a unique virtual care solution with an end-to-end open platform for proactive population health and chronic disease management through virtual Shared Medical Visits. By embedding Generative AI into our platform and teaming with IBM Ecosystem Engineering, WellnessWits is providing a new AI-powered chat functionality that can help patients gather information and insights about chronic disease while more easily scheduling appointments with physicians that specialize in their chronic condition. 

🧫 AstraZeneca has launched Evenova, a new digital health solutions business, within the company to expedite innovation in the life sciences industry. Evinova will focus on delivering internationally scaled digital products and offerings with continuing support from AstraZeneca, as well as from its strategic partnerships with contract research organisations (CROs) Parexel and Fortrea. The top priority of the new business will be to bring to market digital technology offerings used globally by AstraZeneca to optimise the design and delivery of clinical trials. 

❓ Did you know that? 

Britain has falled from the top spot in Economist Impact’s Health Inclusivity Index, which assesses governments’ efforts worldwide to ensure that good health is accessible to all individuals. The Index utilises over 50 individual indicators across three domains. Australia and Sweden have surpassed Britain as the most health inclusive countries when population experiences are integrated into the Health Inclusivity Index, the report found. 

👂 What we’re listening to 

A general election is expected in 2024 and no party can ignore the NHS − but what do they plan to do on health? The health service regularly tops voter concerns, consumes a growing share of public spending and features daily in the media. The health of the nation is also moving up the agenda, with ill health the main reason why 2.6 million working-age people are economically inactive.  

🚨 This week’s events 

22 November 12:30-13:30 – Webinar: The Role of Digital Flow Systems in Optimising for Winter 

23 November 12:30-13:30 –  Webinar: Establishing effective partnerships for digital health start-ups