Each week we will publish a roundup of news, developments and items we have covered over the past week to provide you with a detailed summary of all the latest happenings in healthcare.
As with previous weeks, the Coronavirus pandemic has dominated the news. We have also reported on some other key developments that may have gone unnoticed in wider healthcare circles.
Here are the weekly key developments from HTN and Leading Healthcare:
Public Health England publishes live Coronavirus tracking dashboard
The dashboard tracks the spread of COVID-19 with an interactive map and dashboard.
Deputy CEO for NHSX plans to find out how many people are self-isolating
Simon Eccles Deputy CEO for NHSX stated on Twitter on Sunday 15th about the need to find the data on those self-isolating and in what regions of the UK.
“We are doing this” said Simon on finding the data.
Plans “should be sorted soon and will prove really helpful in predicting demand as numbers (infected) increase”.
For the full article, see here: Simon Eccles plans to find those self-isolating
Asthma UK launches new funding round
Asthma UK made up to £250k available for successful proposals to fund programmes to link data from smart inhalers.
The data will be fed back to clinicians in real-time as the inhaler is used.
For the full article, see here: Asthma smart inhalers
Dr Yale Tung Chen takes to Twitter to provide updates on the virus’s effect on his own body
A doctor in Madrid who contracted COVID-19 is providing ultrasound scans on Twitter daily.
Doctor Chen is also giving daily written reports of his symptoms and condition.
For the full article, see here: COVID-19 infected doctor provides daily updates of his own body
You can see Dr Chen’s Twitter feed here by searching @yaletung
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust pilot process automation technology from Cloud 21
The programme started in July 2019 to explore the use of process automation in clerking clinics using the UiPath platform.
The programme is to trial replacing manual admin processes with technology.
For the full article, see here: Dartford and Gravesham explore process automation technology
NHS ConfedExpo cancelled
The yearly event set to take place in Manchester, June this year was cancelled this week.
The cancellation of the event is another in a long line of ‘group gatherings’ unable to go ahead due to the current pandemic.
For the full article, see here: NHS ConfedExpo cancelled
NHS COVID-19 live impact assessment tool launched
Draper and Dash this week launched a COVID-19 live hospital planning and demand impact assessment tool.
Trusts can view and analyse HES data with other live data sources by the minute across the globe.
For the full article, see here: COVID-19 live impact assessment tool
The Leading Healthcare Summit 2020
This week we launched the Leading Healthcare Summit on the 21st and 22nd Septemeber.
The event will allow anyone is health and care to present, share and learn from healthcare teams across the country.
For more details about the event, see here: Leading Healthcare Summit 2020
NHS Digital to gather and analyse data to counter Coronavirus spread
Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health & Social Care has today asked NHS Digital to provide data and services management as part of measures to counter the spread of Coronavirus.
NHS Digital will collect and analyse data to help healthcare professional understand the illness more and help to identify those who will be vulnerable to the disease.
For the full article, see here: NHS Digital to collect and analyse data on Corona spread
HEE to give £10m to fund clinical placements
Mark Radford, Chief Nurse unveiled plans this week to invest £10m in clinical placement programmes.
This is to counter the decline in nursing numbers since 2017.
For the full article, see here: £10m to fund clinical placements
AI content analysis on COVID-19 literature
A collaboration between several organisations to launch a project in order to textually analyse literature on COVID-19 to find answers to the outbreak.
The collaboration plan to use AI to analyse over 20,000 papers to find signs, patterns and insights.
For the full article, see here: AI to analyse COVID-19 literature
Doctors to receive leadership training with £1.8m award
A £1.8m contract awarded to Edge Hill University Medical School and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), will provide training in medical education and leadership.
Currently, medical training in the UK does not encompass any formal management or leadership training.
For the full article, see here: Doctors to receive £1.8m leadership training
NHS makes Microsoft Teams available for free
NHSX, NHS Digital and Microsoft have today announced Microsoft Teams will be made available for free for three months.
Microsoft Teams, a communication and collaboration platform will now be free to all NHS organisations, providing online web chat, video conferencing and planning tools.
For the full article, see here: NHS makes Microsoft Teams available for free
NICE appoint new Chief Executive
Professor Gillian Leng, CBE, has today been appointed as new Chief Executive of NICE.
Currently, Gillian is Director of Health and Social Care at NICE as well as holding the post of Deputy Chief Executive since 2007.
For the full article, see here: NICE appoint new Chief Executive
COVID-19 chatbot published to deal with common questions
Healthcare Communications, the digital first patient communications specialist, has this week launched a chatbot to provide answers to 100 common questions about COVID-19.
The chatbot provides instant answers to the most common questions by using information from NHS England, NHS Wales, Public Health England and Gov.uk.
For the full article, see here: COVID-19 chatbot to deal with common questions
Medic Bleep seeks to raise £500,000
Medic Bleep, a communication tool to replace pagers in NHS Hospitals has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £500,000.
The company has raised so far £310,080 as part of this campaign and is providing 7.27% equity, valuing the company at £6,382,094.
For the full article, see here: Medic Bleep to raise £500,000
Transformative treatment regimens for tuberculosis initiated by first global collaboration
Philanthropic and non-profit private sector organisations to work as one to ‘accelerate the development of novel TB treatment regimens for all TB patients’ according to GSK.
For the full article, see here: Treatment regimens for TB
Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug shows promising results in GOSH trial
The muscle-wasting condition of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) has seen a drug trialled which ‘skips over’ a genetic fault for its cause.
The trial of the drug has been led by Great Ormond Street Hospital and has shown ‘promising results.’
For the full article, see here: Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug in GOSH trial
COVID-19: how do you know if your symptoms are real?
Due to the nature of a Coronavirus being a respiratory tract infection, symptoms exhibited can be similar if not the same as the flu virus or common cold.
The difference with the virus group known as Coronaviruses – presently COVID-19, SARS in the early 2000s and MERS more recently, is that they can exhibit much stronger symptoms in some patients.
For the full article, see here: COVID-19 how do you know if your symptoms are real?
“Your NHS needs you!”
65,000 doctors and nurses were told yesterday that “the NHS needs you”.
This comes as a new recruitment drive by the government comes into action to support the fight against the Coronavirus.
For the full article, see here: Your NHS needs you!
