NEW NATIONAL DATA GUARDIAN ANNOUNCED
The UK secretary of state for health and social care, Matt Hancock has appointed Dr Nicola Byrne as the next national data guardian (NDG).
Following Dame Fiona Caldicott, who passed away last month, Dr Byrne becomes the second person to take up the role. First established in November 2014, the NDG’s role is to help ensure that the public can trust that health and care information is securely safeguarded.
Dr Byrne was selected through an open public appointment process, to appoint a successor to Dame Fiona. She has been appointed for three years, in line with the standard terms set out in the Health and Social Care (National Data Guardian) Act.
Dr Byrne said: “I am delighted to take on this important role and determined to work to ensure that citizens’ health and care data is used to ensure the safety and quality of individual care, to improve the health of the population, and to support the longer term effectiveness of our health and care system through research and innovation in treatment and models of care.
“In doing so, I will do my best to honour Dame Fiona’s legacy, seeking always to speak up on behalf of citizens for trustworthy use of data, as she did with such integrity over the many years of her work.”
MELANOMA UK AND SKINVISION PARTNER TO IMPROVE SKIN CHECKS
Melanoma UK and health technology company SkinVision are collaborating to provide a service that helps people perform regular skin checks and flags up potential cancers to healthcare professionals.
The new SkinVision Melanoma UK service will prompt users to make regular skin checks a habit, in line with the ongoing ‘LOOK UP’ campaign. In-app reminders, body mapping and AI smartcheck assessments help users flag skin conditions and seek help if needed.
SkinVision provides a smartphone-based regulated medical device to help individuals assess their risk and get to the doctor in time. Certified by the British Standards Institute, the SkinVision application uses AI to compare a user’s skin spots with millions of images of known skin cancers to provide a risk score.
ELISABETH-TWEESTEDEN HOSPITAL SELECTS UPERFORM
Netherlands-based Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital (ETZ) is adopting a new digital training platform that helps clinical staff optimise the use of its electronic patient dossier (EPD) system, Epic.
The hospital is rolling out ANCILE Solutions’ uPerform platform after the completion of an initial project in 2020 where they presented a new vision for its clinical education programme. This was a hybrid approach that provides on-the-job assistance that addresses different learning styles and preferences. In December 2020, ETZ chose uPerform as its digital training platform to provide its clinical staff with training and support for its Epic EHR system.
Judith van Gerven Biermann, coordinator of the EPD Academy, said: “We see incredible benefits in using uPerform. It fits in seamlessly with the vision that we have at EPD Academy (and the overall ‘Learning House’), which is based on hybrid learning. Everyone learns in his or her own way and must be able to choose from several options to take in the offered subject matter.”
SOCIAL PRESCRIBING RESOURCE FOR HEALTH AND WELLBEING
A new social prescribing website has launched to deliver non-clinical health and wellbeing support to Londoners.
Commissioned by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, the social prescribing system will allow local agencies to refer people to a link worker.
The link workers will take a holistic approach to people’s health and wellbeing and connect people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support.
As NHS resources become increasingly stretched during the pandemic, voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE) continue to be an instrumental referral resource for social prescribing link workers, GPs, nurses and other primary care professionals.
AI-POWERED COVID-19 SOLUTION REDUCES REPORT TURNAROUND TIME
Healthcare software company, RADLogics and the Moscow Center for Diagnostics & Telemedicine have shared the results of a large-scale study for chest-CT scans during the pandemic.
The research found that the introduction of RADLogics’ AI-Powered solution into radiology workflow to analyse Chest-CT scans during the COVID-19 pandemic reduced report turnaround time by an average of 30%, which is equivalent to seven minutes per case.
The research included a total of 128,350 Chest-CT scans, of which 36,358 were processed by RADLogics AI-Powered COVID-19 solution.
Dr Sergey Morozov, CEO of Moscow Diagnostics and Telemedicine Center said: “In addition to finding that the integration of AI did not have a negative effect on the interpretation or report accuracy, our researchers found a significant improvement in productivity and report turnaround time by the expert radiologists that leveraged AI.”
NEW APP HELPING BUSINESSES RETURN TO WORK
UK-based smartphone app and management dashboard, tested.me is aiming to help employers keep track of staff that have tested negative for COVID-19 or had a vaccination.
The platform allows businesses and their teams to share their tests results and verified vaccine status within a data secure dashboard, allowing staff to return to work safely.
The app aims to remove the administrative process of sourcing through each employee’s health records, making it easier for both employers and staff to manage all this information in real-time.
Users can download the app onto their smartphone and can share some or all of their information automatically with an organisation. The SaaS dashboard integrates and automates staff data meaning the employer can see who is safe to come to work and who should self-isolate at home.
NOTTINGHAM CC SELECTS SERVELEC FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
Provider of digital care software, Servelec has announced that it is working with UK’s Nottingham County Council to enable interoperability between the Council and local healthcare trusts.
Using its Discharge to Assess solution, the platform will build on Servelec’s Conexes interoperability platform. Designed and developed by Nottingham County Council to support the hospital discharge process, the platform provides staff at the Council with an up-to-date view of patient progress and history, allowing patients to be discharged sooner into social care support where needed.
James Palmer, head of the social care programme, NHS Digital Programme said: “The Health and Social Care integration programme that has been developed in Nottinghamshire has already brought many benefits locally. We are keen to support wider awareness and adoption of these services across the country so these benefits can be realised at a national level.”
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