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Showing results for tags 'Digital health'.
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Content ArticleLisa Drake, an NHS ex General Practice Manager now working in a digital advisory role, shares some of the missed opportunities for digital ways of working she witnessed when she was a patient herself.
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News ArticleA recent report based on research and case studies of good practice in combatting digital health inequalities demonstrates the importance in working with patients who are digitally excluded. The report, Putting patients first: championing good practice in combatting digital health inequalities, is the second report by the Patient Coalition for AI, Data and Digital Tech in Health. This report focuses on digital health inequalities and the impact that digital exclusion is having on health in the UK. It highlights different reasons for disparities in a person’s ability to access and use digital health technology and provides insights into the severity of the UK’s digital inequalities. The Coalition report concludes recommending that the Government and NHS should: Engage with those digitally excluded Ensure patients have a choice Ensure the language is appropriate for all audiences Learn from good practice. Read full story Source: The Patients Association, 9 May 2022
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Content ArticleThis report has been developed by the Patient Coalition for AI, Data and Digital Tech in Health, which aims to unite representatives from patient advocacy groups, including Patient Safety Learning, Royal Colleges, medical charities, industry and other stakeholders committed to ensuring that patient interests lie at the heart of digital health policy and discussions. The report focuses on how programmes have worked with patients to reduce digital health inequalities, by supporting those who are unable to access and use the internet and digital devices to improve their health and general wellbeing.
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News Article
Website to show NHS delays
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A website that tells patients how long they are likely to wait for NHS treatment will be made available in Scotland this summer. Humza Yousaf, the Scottish health secretary, said people queuing for tests and procedures and their doctors would be able to access information about any delays in their area using the software. Many patients living in pain are waiting years to have common operations such as hip and knee replacements. In theory, the SNP guarantee hospital treatment within 12 weeks of patients joining the waiting list, but this law was broken extensively before the pandemic and has now been breached hundreds of thousands of times. One orthopaedic surgeon, who did not wish to be named, said he was operating on patients whose joints had entirely collapsed after a two-year wait for a limb replacement made their case an emergency. Other patients who did not reach crisis faced even longer delays, he said. Dr Sandesh Gulhane, a GP and health spokesman for the Scottish Conservative Party, asked Yousaf, during a meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s health committee yesterday: “Why can’t we have in the future, in the [recovery] plan, indicative waiting times which are relatively live so we can all go on a website and see how long we need to wait.” Yousaf said it was fair for patients and NHS staff to expect to have information on waiting times, and that a website to provide this was being developed. “We are working closely with Public Health Scotland, we are working closely with boards to develop the infrastructure in order to collate and publish this data,” he said. “It’s an ambition of ours to have that available in a way that is easy to find, easy to understand, both for the patient but for the health professional too.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 11 May 2022 -
Content ArticleIn a fundamental sense, the vision for transforming virtual care from that of an exclusive service that benefits only a few to that of a standard for providing equitable care for all echoes the age-old debate between policy variations on the zip code and the genetic code. This commentary from Esha Ray Chaudhuri aims to further develop the key theme of engaging the “reimagining” of virtual care for older ethnic adults—by considering the syndemic nature of COVID-19 and the intersection of cultural interventions in care and equity in virtual care.
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Content ArticleMaternity services shouldn’t be waiting for whistle-blowers or inquiries to alert them to problems, says Dr Mark Ratnarajah, a practising paediatrician and managing director of C2-Ai. Instead systematic transdisciplinary reviews and real-time data should support a culture of shared learning, that helps ensure patient safety is everybody’s responsibility.
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Content ArticleMuch research has been done into the causes, extent and impact of health inequalities that affect rural and coastal populations. Health services in these areas currently face serious challenges due to a combination of factors, including social deprivation, ageing populations and workforce staffing issues. In this blog, Patrick Mitchell, Director of Innovation, Digital and Transformation at Health Education England (HEE), describes a new HEE programme that aims to help tackle health inequalities in rural and coastal areas.
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Content ArticleThe first wave of the pandemic necessitated a large scale shift to greater digital engagement with patients, yet progress has not been uniform. While virtual consultations have become increasingly commonplace, communication outside of those appointments is still often analogue and generally sporadic. Cancelling an appointment – or indicating in advance that a specific day or time doesn’t work – remains a complicated, non-digital experience for many patients. With millions now on waiting lists for treatment, and a significant minority having already waited two years, this sort of communication gap becomes more challenging. As such there are arguments that it’s now time for the digital acceleration seen during the pandemic to extend to this area too.
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Event
The NHS Big Conversation for Improvement
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an event in Community Calendar
untilThe Big Conversation will bring people together for a range of interactive discussions, workshops and presentations, giving a space for people to talk through the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, explore continuous improvement opportunities and share fresh insights and ideas on how to promote the improvement of health and care for the benefit of everyone, those who experience services and those who provide them. The Big Conversation will take place over two days. You can choose how much or how little you can attend for - feel free to join one session or stay for the whole time. We want to provide a space, time and environment where anyone can share innovative health and care improvements, that is, methods and approaches that have produced real changes for the benefit of enhancing patient and staff experiences, or changes that have improved population health, and or reduced costs. Day 1 will have the look and feel of a “virtual conference” with presentations, health and care improvement case study sessions and skills-building improvement workshops. Day 2 will be shaped around “open conversations” hosted by members of the audience around topics and questions that matter to them. Register now for the NHS Big Conversation. Don’t worry you are not committed to anything formally by clicking and registering, you are just saying you are interested at this point. Once you are registered, we will ask you to agree to us contacting you again. This will allow us to send you an email to confirm we have saved your details correctly and to tell you more about the Big Conversation plans. We will ask you to think about how you might want to become more involved in being part of the Big Conversation and this includes: An opportunity to submit a nomination for the National Improvement Awards To ask if you would like to sign-up to lead or co-lead your own virtual session on the second day of the Big Conversation -
Content Article
The medical algorithmic audit (5 April 2022)
Mark Hughes posted an article in Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence systems for healthcare, like any other medical device, have the potential to fail. In this article, published in The Lancet: Digital Health, the authors recommend a medical algorithmic audit framework as a tool that can be used to better understand the weaknesses of an artificial intelligence system and put in place mechanisms to mitigate their impact. They propose that this framework should be the joint responsibility of users and developers who can collaborate to ensure patient safety and correct performance of the system in question. -
EventuntilDigital technologies are transforming the way in which health and care is delivered. They have played a crucial role in enabling the delivery of services during the pandemic and are set to continue to play a pivotal role in the design, delivery and innovation of health and care going forward. This event will take a deep dive into the practical implementation of digital solutions in health and care. We will explore how data insights and technology are being used to improve care, access and user experience against the backdrop of the impact of Covid-19. Sessions will also provide an opportunity to assess how a range of digital tools from simple to complex can be used to innovate service design, support integration, improve population health management, and reduce health inequalities, touching on implications for staff and patients. Book a ticket
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Event
Cyber threats to health and patient safety
Patient Safety Learning posted an event in Community Calendar
Through multidisciplinary lectures from expert speakers and lively panel discussions, this Royal Society of Medicine conference will look at the current cybersecurity threats facing health and care organisations and examine the progress made by healthcare institutions since 2017 in rising to the challenge of cybersecurity. We will focus on the issues facing the NHS today and the steps that NHS organisations should take to protect themselves. Attendees will learn how cybercriminals and hostile nation-states pose a threat to patient safety and trust. Delegates will hear from NHSX, NHS Digital and key organisations that combat cyber threats daily. They will also hear directly from experts in the field about the steps they are taking to help healthcare organisations to address their issues and concerns. During this event, you will: Current cybersecurity threats faced by healthcare organisations from both cybercriminals and hostile nations. Specific risks due to online working, increasing digitalisation and prevalence of connected medical devices and artificial intelligence (e.g. data provenance). Specific risks due to the use of medical and telehealth devices in the home and community. How the NHS is equipped to deal with current and future threats. Tools and approaches to protect organisations and devices from attack. Register -
Content ArticleWearable devices are a modern marvel. They teach users exactly how many calories you can burn by running up a flight of stairs, record sleep patterns down to the minute a neighbour’s safety light wakes you up, monitor your heart rate and alert you if anything gets out of whack, and even control your music during a workout. And that’s not even touching on the medical wearables that patients use to manage chronic conditions. We’re living in a time when so much information is available on our wrists or in our palms, and these devices are improving the lives and health of users all over the world. And yet, they’re not perfect. Software Advice surveyed over 450 US patients who currently use medically-prescribed wearable devices to better understand their experiences.
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Content ArticleDigital health innovations are often seen as 'ready made' solutions to challenges facing health and care systems but despite their potential, implementing these technologies can be complex. This Nuffield Trust summary highlights ten lessons for those working to integrate technology into health and social care services. The findings are based on a large-scale evaluation of digital technologies being implemented in health and social care in East London.
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Content ArticleA key part of healthcare digital transformation is the development and adoption of artificial intelligence technologies. This article, published in BMJ Health & Care Informatics, considers how human factors and ergonomic principles can be applied to the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare.
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Content ArticleA report from the Institute of Health and Social Care Management Power-House series discusses virtual wards, an innovation due to be implemented at scale in the NHS as a method of addressing patient waiting lists. With the help of remote treatment options and supported by technology, patients are monitored and cared for in their own homes. The report lists the advantages and disadvantages of this approach. In addition to the report, you can watch the 'How to virtual wards Power Hour' video where an expert panel discusses the details around virtual wards. Roy Lilley was joined by Professor Alison Leary, Elaine Strachan-Hall, Steph Lawrence, Alexandra Evans and Dr Elaine Maxwell for an unmissable hour of insight, expertise and guidance.
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EventuntilAre you interested in storytelling health? Do you want to use narrative as the basis for improvement? Do you want to work with people and hear about their experiences of care? Are you curious about storytelling? If so, come along to the NHS/Hope storytelling festival which is taking place between 9 and 23 March. You will find out about filmmaking, arts therapy, live performance, storytelling for quality improvement, staff stories, digital stories, how volunteers can capture stories, and hear from the author of a book about storytelling in health and how patient leaders are shaping our programme of digital storytelling. You will also hear how stories are being used across systems as a learning tool. There will also be the opportunity to take part in online training where you can gain a contribution to your CPD and gain some essential knowledge about a broad range of storytelling methods. Each session takes place between 6pm and 7.30pm and details can be found here.
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Content ArticleGeneral practice has always been the foundation and gateway to the NHS, but this part of the healthcare system is now under strain due to greater demand from an increasingly complex patient profile, and a stretched workforce. Lack of staff and coherent planning means that the current model is not fit for purpose, and this has resulted in a recent decrease in patient satisfaction. This proposal by the think tank Policy Exchange outlines the reforms that could help the NHS develop a model of general practice to better meet the needs and interests of patients and healthcare workers.
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News ArticleA Scottish hospital has become the first in the UK and one of the first in the world to pilot using artificial intelligence (AI) in its cervical cancer screening programme. University Hospital Monklands has increased capacity by around 25% and improved analysis turn-around times with the measure, which experts said could “revolutionise” the screening process. The system, from medical technology company Hologic, creates digital images of cervical smear slides from samples that have tested positive for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). These are then reviewed using an advanced algorithm, which quickly assesses the cells in the sample and highlights the most relevant to medical experts, saving them time in identifying and analysing abnormalities. “Preliminary results from the pilot are promising, as the team at University Hospital Monklands has increased capacity by around 25 per cent in the slide assessment and improved analysis turn-around times, as well as allowing screeners to dedicate more time to training on the latest technologies and dealing with difficult-to-diagnose cases,” says Allan Wilson, consultant biomedical scientist at NHS Lanarkshire who is leading the pilot. "Through AI and digital diagnostics, we have the potential to improve outcomes for women not only in Scotland, but around the world.” Samantha Dixon, chief executive of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, welcomed the pilot. “Catching cervical cell changes means they can be treated to prevent them from developing into cervical cancer,” she said. Read full story Source: The Scotsman, 4 March 2022
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Content Article
NHS My Planned Care Patient Platform
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Other health and care software
My Planned Care gives you advice and support while you wait and helps you to prepare for your hospital consultation, treatment, or surgery. This includes giving you information about waiting times at your hospital and other supporting and local services while you wait. This site is updated weekly and can be viewed by anyone, which means you, your family or carer as well as your NHS team can all see the latest information. Your hospital team will be in touch with you as soon as they can. If you are looking for an update, please check this website before contacting your hospital or GP. -
Content ArticleTo mark Rare Disease Day 2022, the Department of Health and Social Care has published England’s first Rare Diseases Action Plan.
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News Article
Javid sets new target for trust digitisation
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Electronic patient record (EPR) systems must be implemented in at least 90% of NHS trusts by the end of next year, the health secretary has announced at HSJ’s Digital Transformation Summit. Speaking at the event with digital healthcare leaders in Birmingham, Mr Javid said an estimated one in five trusts are currently without EPR systems implemented. He said: “We have seen some brilliant progress {on digital transformation] but it’s not always been consistent across the board.” He said: “We must see these disparities as just as unjust as disparities in access to education and employment.” And added: “Electronic patient records are the essential prerequisite for a modern, digital NHS." Mr Javid said 40% of social care providers were grappling with entirely paper based records, and he also wanted them to all adopt electronic records. He also outlined the intended future of the NHS App, and the government’s ambition for this to be used by 75 per cent of adults in England by March 2024. Currently it is just over half of all adults. Mr Javid said he wanted the app to be the “future front door for interaction with the NHS”, and will be used by patients to directly communicate with their healthcare providers, to receive personalised health advice and to access test results. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 24 February 2022 -
News Article
NHS to treat 25,000 hospital patients at home in ‘virtual wards’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS plans to treat up to 25,000 hospital patients at home in “virtual wards” to help clear the backlog caused by the pandemic, the “living with Covid” plan has revealed. Patients will be offered acute clinical care at home, including remote monitoring and treatment, as an alternative to hospital stays. Consultants or GPs will review patients daily via digital platforms and phone calls. In some cases, patients will be provided with a wearable device to continuously monitor and report their vital signs. The NHS has set a national target of 40 to 50 virtual beds per 100,000 population, which equates to about 25,000 beds across England, according to the “living with Covid” plan published this week. The document said: “The use of ‘virtual wards’ and ‘hospital at home’ models of care have ensured that patients can be safely cared for in their own homes and that additional bed capacity can be freed up in hospitals.” Commenting on the initial rollout of virtual wards, Dr Tim Cooksley, the president of the Society for Acute Medicine, warned a “hasty” rollout could risk patient safety. He said: “Virtual wards do have the potential to be a model of the future. However, it is essential they are appropriately planned, resourced and staffed so they simply cannot be seen as a short-term mitigation measure which can be hastily rolled out mid-pandemic. Incorrect implementation could risk patient safety and significantly impact clinician and patient confidence.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 22 February 2022 -
EventuntilIn order to support the NHS Priorities set out for 2022/2023 in delivering significantly more elective care to tackle the elective backlog and to reduce long waits, this exclusive webinar from GovConnect will take a look at the developing approaches to patient care using collaborations with providers delivering treatments in the home in order to support patient flow. This webinar will explore: How teams have innovated to provide hospital-at-home during the Covid-19 crisis and what’s needed to maintain the momentum of change? What is the future direction for hospital-at-home, post-pandemic, and what will accelerate or prevent adoption at scale? Evaluation and evidence required to support the case for change. There will be the first virtual wards presentation from Tim Staughn and the first one to case study the Covid virtual ward from Dr Andrew Barlow. Speakers: Jill Ireland, Chief Executive and Clinical Director, HomeLink Healthcare Jon Green, Consultant and Former NHS CEO Dr Andrew Barlow, Director of medicine, West Hertfordshire hospitals NHS trust Tim Straughan, Director of NHS @home NHS England & Improvement Register
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Content Article
Healthy data e-consultation (2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Data and insight
The Healthy Data e-consultation is a joint initiative run by the Belgian project 'Towards the development of a national health data platform' (AHEAD) and the European initiative 'Towards a European Health Data Space' (TEHDAS). Its aims are: to listen to citizens and patients’ views on health data secondary use and sharing, and on the role that they would like to play in the management and use of their health data. to increase citizen awareness, engagement and empowerment on the topic, so that everyone can develop informed opinions and take an active role in the use of their health data. Anyone can sign up and share their views on the following questions: What should your health data be used for? Under which conditions should your health data be used? How would you like to be informed and involved in the reuse of your health data? What other ideas do you have on health data reuse?
