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Showing results for tags 'Innovation'.
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News ArticleA breakthrough AI model can determine a person's risk of developing pancreatic cancer with staggering accuracy, research suggests. Using medical records and information from previous scans, the AI was able to flag patients at a high risk of developing pancreatic cancer within the next three years with great accuracy. There are currently no full-proof scans for pancreatic cancer, with doctors using a combination of CT scans, MRIs and other invasive procedures to diagnose it. This keeps many doctors away from recommending these screenings. Over time, they also hope these AI models will help them develop a reliable way to screen for pancreatic cancer — which already exists for other types of the diseases. "One of the most important decisions clinicians face day to day is who is at high risk for a disease, and who would benefit from further testing, which can also mean more invasive and more expensive procedures that carry their own risks," Dr Chris Sander, a biologist at Harvard who contributed to the study, said. "An AI tool that can zero in on those at highest risk for pancreatic cancer who stand to benefit most from further tests could go a long way toward improving clinical decision-making." Read full story Source: Mail Online, 9 May 2023
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Content ArticleThis case study published by The Beryl Institute looks at an initiative to collect real-time feedback on patient experiences at the Stanford Health Care emergency department in California. Previously, the department had sent a survey to patients well after their visit, but the team realised that capturing this information sooner was critical. Matthew Lim, Patient Experience Manager at Stanford Health Care describes the practical and replicable steps the organisation took in implementing a QR code-based feedback system. He describes the results, lessons learned and potential future developments.
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News Article
Practices eradicate racial inequalities in blood pressure control
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
GPs in South London have eradicated a large gap in blood pressure control between white patients and those from a Black or minority ethnic background, after a year-long project. AT Medics Streatham PCN in Lambeth found that among their patients under 80 diagnosed with hypertension, there was a 12% inequality gap in blood pressure control, with 67% of white patients and 55% of black patients treated to target. The two practices in the PCN have 45,000 patients, with around 3,100 diagnosed with hypertension. They set up a centralised recall system and made use of practice pharmacists and healthcare assistants to provide guidance, education around self-care, lifestyle and medicines. Dr Tarek Radwan, GP director said: ‘This project has delivered incredible results, and this is all down to the dedication of our amazing team, especially our administrators, healthcare assistants and pharmacists. "The last 12 months have proved that we can not just reduce but actually eradicate health inequalities and raise the quality of care for everyone at the same time. "I know the difference this will make to our local communities, and it really shows what is possible with a highly motivated multidisciplinary team." Read full story Source: Pulse, 3 May 2023 -
EventuntilIn the context of the complex challenges across the health and care landscape, including significant workforce shortages and limited clinical capacity, this free online event will consider the role of diagnostics in supporting those working in the system and keeping people out of hospital. The King's Fund event will explore: the potential that increased access to diagnostic testing, and in particular in vitro diagnostic testing, in primary care, the community and in community diagnostic hubs offers to diagnosing people earlier and avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions what innovations in patient pathways mean for those working across the system and how they are being supported to make changes, in the context of the significant challenges they are facing the role integrated care systems can play in developing diagnostic services that encourage innovation and are designed with people and communities at their heart. Register
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News Article
New artificial intelligence tool can accurately identify cancer
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Doctors, scientists and researchers have built an artificial intelligence (AI) model that can accurately identify cancer in a development they say could speed up diagnosis of the disease and fast-track patients to treatment. Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. It results in about 10 million deaths annually, or nearly one in six deaths, according to the World Health Organization. In many cases, however, the disease can be cured if detected early and treated swiftly. The AI tool designed by experts at the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust, the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Imperial College London can identify whether abnormal growths found on CT scans are cancerous. The algorithm performs more efficiently and effectively than current methods, according to a study. The findings have been published in the Lancet’s eBioMedicine journal. “In the future, we hope it will improve early detection and potentially make cancer treatment more successful by highlighting high-risk patients and fast-tracking them to earlier intervention,” said Dr Benjamin Hunter, a clinical oncology registrar at the Royal Marsden and a clinical research fellow at Imperial. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 30 April 2023- Posted
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EventAgainst the backdrop of unprecedented pressure on the NHS, there is an opportunity for innovation to support productivity and the health and care workforce. Coinciding with a challenging economic landscape and high levels of inflation, the health service must find solutions to increasing its productivity in a way that supports an already stretched workforce. This free online event from the King's Fund will provide an opportunity to explore: what good looks like in terms of productivity across the health and care system and supporting staff to perform well the barriers to developing a culture that supports innovation, and how to support people to collaborate, work and think differently how best to assess what success looks like in this context. Register
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Digital technologies: innovating for change
Patient Safety Learning posted an event in Community Calendar
untilDigital innovations bring many opportunities to transform healthcare services, and to improve people’s health and experiences of care. However, introducing and using technology has continued to prove difficult, and there is still a lot to achieve to deliver on the promise of digital transformation. This event will bring together leading innovators and delegates to network and collectively and creatively develop strategies that enable innovative practice. During this in-person event at The King’s Fund, experts will discuss current innovations – such as, virtual wards, shared care records, remote monitoring, and robotic process automation (RPA) – in the context of the wider health care landscape, and consider how to overcome the barriers people face to implementation. Register -
Content ArticleThe West of England AHSN, in partnership with NIHR ARC West and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB), has created the Evidence Works online toolkit. Its aim is to provide step-by-step support for anyone working in health and care to find, appraise and apply evidence for service change or to develop new products, projects or pilots. The toolkit offers a useful starting point, to help you find and access the most relevant evidence and signpost you to more information and specialist help, should you need it.
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NHS Confederation: Health beyond the hospital conference
Sam posted an event in Community Calendar
untilNHS Confederation are bringing together organisations working to treat people closer to home. This conference will offer an opportunity for senior leaders across health and care to come together and explore health beyond the hospital. Health beyond the hospital is a chance to come together with others working in this space to explore how we can work collaboratively to support people in their homes and the community. It will focus on three key themes: people with health conditions (older people; people with multiple and complex conditions; and children and young people); data and digital; and innovation. This will be a key opportunity for members and non-members to network with peers, to share knowledge and experience, as well as listen to experts from across healthcare. By focusing on what we can do together and uniting around patients we can shift the conversation to focus on treating people where they live and keeping them well at home. Register -
Content ArticleIn January 2023, Newmarket Strategy and BD, a global medical technology company, were part of a delegation of UK health leaders travelling to the global healthcare conference Arab Health in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The purpose of the visit was to learn more about Connected Medication Management (CMM) and the role it can play in solving some of the most pressing challenges faced by health systems today. Connected Medication Management is a technology-driven approach to medication management that uses digital and automation technologies. It aims to optimise medication use by reducing medication errors to improve patient safety, whilst delivering productivity gains for the NHS. It also frees up nursing and other clinical staff to provide more patient care.
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Content ArticleHow one Devon ICS has worked with local trusts to cut deliver extra capacity at a former Nightingale hospital, now converted into an elective centre.
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Content ArticleSmart Pods is the first-ever Royal College of Art (RCA)/ Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) multi-disciplinary healthcare project. It has grown out of the College’s chartered commitment to engage with ‘social developments’ through design.
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News ArticleA newly approved weight loss jab should be used with caution as it could be harmful to those vulnerable to eating disorders, doctors have warned. Thousands struggling with obesity could be prescribed Wegovy, or semaglutide, which scientists have described as a “game changer”, after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved its use. However, eating disorder experts have warned the NHS to proceed with caution in prescribing the drug, with one GP accusing NICE of being “absolutely reckless” in approving it. The drug was approved on Wednesday for use in adults who have at least one weight-related condition, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol sleep apnoea and heart disease, and a body mass index score of at least 35. It can only be prescribed to those undergoing weight management treatment. Read full story Source: The Independent, 8 March 2023
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Content ArticlePeople with mental health difficulties bring a unique and vital perspective to shaping services. While steps have been taken to embed ‘lived experience’ within mental health services, these opportunities can often feel tokenistic, and maintain the unequal power dynamics between clinicians and ‘patients’. In this paper, David Gilbert uses his insights as a mental health service user and his experience in Patient Leadership to consider the limitations of current practice, and the possibilities of a new approach which could transform mental health services.
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Content ArticleHighland Marketing interviews Clive Flashman, independent consultant, chief digital officer at Patient Safety Learning and director of strategy at ORCHA. Clive has a longstanding interest in using health tech to engage patients and improve safety. He argues that to make real progress, the NHS needs to start taking a systems view, rather than a tactical view, of its adoption.
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News ArticleElon Musk's attempt to implant microchips into human brains has been rejected by US medical regulators over concerns about the safety of the technology. Mr Musk's Neuralink business, which is hoping to insert tiny chips into people's skulls to treat conditions such as paralysis and blindness, was denied initial permission for clinical trials last year. US medical regulators were said to have "dozens" of concerns over the risks posed by the device, Reuters reported. Concerns include fears that tiny electrodes could get lodged in other parts of the brain, which could impair cognitive function or rupture blood vessels. Neuralink's chips are designed to be threaded into the brain using tiny filaments and harness artificial intelligence technology to pick up brain activity using a so-called "brain computer interface". Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 3 March 2023
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Content ArticleThis article looks at how Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, one of the largest health systems in the region, has used artificial intelligence to turn around statistics on patient safety. In 2016, the Accelerate Redesign Collaborate Innovation Center at Sheba launched a an AI solution called Aidoc to read CT scans. It is being used to more accurately predict stroke and pulmonary embolism, allowing healthcare professionals to offer preventative treatment more quickly that when CT scans are read purely manually.
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News ArticleArtificial intelligence could help NHS surgeons perform 300 more transplant operations every year, according to British researchers who have designed a new tool to boost the quality of donor organs. Currently, medical staff must rely on their own assessments of whether an organ may be suitable for transplanting into a patient. It means some organs are picked that ultimately do not prove successful, while others that might be useful can be disregarded. Now experts have developed a pioneering method that uses AI to effectively score potential organs by comparing them to images of tens of thousands of other organs used in transplant operations. The project is being backed by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), which has almost 7,000 people in the UK on its waiting list for a transplant. “We at NHSBT are extremely committed to making this exciting venture a success,” said Prof Derek Manas, the organ donation and transplantation medical director of NHSBT. “This is an exciting development in technological infrastructure that, once validated, will enable surgeons and transplant clinicians to make more informed decisions about organ usage and help to close the gap between those patients waiting for and those receiving lifesaving organs.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 March 2023
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Content ArticleCommunity hospitals are an important part of local health and care systems, yet there has been very little shared on their role and contribution during the pandemic. This project from the Community Hospitals Association sought to redress this and highlight the role of these local hospitals. This two-year project enabled staff to reflect on their experiences and innovations in their community hospitals during the pandemic in a systematic way that facilitated wider sharing and learning. It captures the experiences of staff working in UK community hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on positive impact changes.
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News Article
Is Heatherwood Hospital a model for the future of the NHS?
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Pradeep Gill can see very little of the intense activity around him. He is leaning back in a reclining chair inside one of Heatherwood Hospital's operating theatres. Buzzing around him is the operating team, led by consultant orthopaedic surgeon Jeremy Granville-Chapman. For the surgeon and his team, this procedure is the very definition of routine. They have carried out more than 1,000 joint operations in the past 10 months. Heatherwood Hospital, part of the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, is a specialist elective hub where patients can come in for routine but life-changing surgery at a super-charged pace with theatres working at full tilt, six days a week. It is busy. But it is a good-busy, not the bad-busy we have come to associate with the NHS during this winter crisis. The site opened in March last year and Frimley's hospital executives are keen to stress the impact it has made. "As a specialist planned care facility, Heatherwood has been able to perform surgery six days a week with four out of its six state-of-the-art theatres dedicated to orthopaedic procedures," it said in a press release. "The hospital has also successfully reduced the length of time patients stay in hospital, with 40% of patients safely discharged within 24 hours." This is the practice the NHS wants to adopt as it battles a record seven-million-strong waiting list. Heatherwood can do that because the hospital is ring-fenced from acute pressures that affect other hospitals, as one its most senior orthopaedic surgeons, Mr Rakesh Kucheira, explained. "We have now realised that winter pressures are 12 months not just three months, which means the acute sites are not going to be able to do planned activity that they planned for, so we've got to create more space," he said. Read full story Source: Sky News, 9 March 2023 -
News Article
New strategy to boost NHS access to innovative medical technology
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Patients across the UK are set to benefit from access to safe, effective and innovative equipment and medical devices as part of the first ever medical technology (medtech) strategy published today. The blueprint for boosting NHS medtech will focus on accelerating access to innovative technologies, such as the latest generation of home dialysis machines that enable patients to manage their own health at home and in their day to day lives. It also sets out steps which need to be taken to ensure patients can access safe, effective and innovative technology through the NHS, which can help diagnose, treat and deliver care more quickly, freeing up clinician time. The NHS spends £10 billion a year on medtech including syringes, wheelchairs, Minister of State for Health Will Quince said: "The UK’s innovative spirit delivered revolutionary technology during the pandemic - from COVID tests and ventilators - and we want to harness this in promoting cutting-edge medical advancements to improve patient care. The NHS spends around £10 billion a year on medical technology and I’m looking forward to working with industry to use this as we focus on reducing hospital stays, enhancing diagnosis, preventing illness and freeing up staff time. This new medtech strategy will help build a sustainable NHS with patients at the centre so people can continue to access the right care at the right time." The key aims of the strategy are to: boost the supply of the best equipment to deliver greater resilience to health care challenges, such as pandemics, and enhance NHS performance through modernised technology which will enable faster diagnosis, treatment and ultimately discharge to free up hospital beds. encourage ambitious, innovative research to secure the UK’s position as a global science superpower and attract vital investment for the UK economy and create jobs across the country. In 2021, there were already around 60 different research programmes supporting innovative technologies, representing over £1 billion of funding. increase understanding and awareness of medtech by clinicians which will lead to more informed purchasing on new products and deliver better value for taxpayer money and better services for patients. build on the Life Sciences Vision to improve collaboration between the NHS, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as an innovation partner to ensure patients can access the right products safely. Read full story Source: DHSC, 3 February 2023 -
Content ArticleMedical technology, or ‘medtech’, is of vital importance to the UK health and care system. The Government's first Medical technology strategy outlines how it will ensure the health and social care system can reliably access safe, effective and innovative medical technologies that support the continued delivery of high-quality care, outstanding patient safety and excellent patient outcomes in a way that makes the best use of taxpayer money.
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Content Article
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The Christie NHS Foundation Trust ran a Green Team competition recently with five staff teams presenting their projects to the judges from the Trust's board. -
Content ArticleHighlights from the South West Integrated Personalised Care Awards celebrating some of the great work in the NHS.
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News Article
Technology can help the NHS, says AstraZeneca boss
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The chairman of Covid vaccine giant AstraZeneca has said that investment in technology can help the NHS cut costs. Leif Johansson said more spending on areas such as artificial intelligence and screening could prevent illness and stop people going to hospital. The NHS is under severe pressure, with A&E waits at record levels and strike action exacerbating ambulance delays. Mr Johansson said about 97% of healthcare costs come from "when people present at the hospital". He said only the remaining 3% is made up of spending on vaccination, early detection or screening. Mr Johansson told the BBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos: "If we can get into an investment mode in health for screening or prevention or early diagnostics on health and see that as an investment to reduce the cost of sickness then I think we have a much better model over time that would serve us well." Commenting on the UK, he said: "All countries have different systems and the NHS is one which we have learned to live with and I think the Brits, in general, are quite appreciative about it." He said he was not talking about "breaking any healthcare systems down". Rather, he said, "we should embrace technology and science". Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 January 2023
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