Healthcare IT news in brief

This week’s round-up includes a digital makeover at HSCIC, text messages for keeping off the pounds and a new system for the NHS 111 service in south central England.

The end of HSCIC

No, the organisation that handles data and IT for health and social care hasn’t disappeared, it’s just been rebranded. On 1 August, the Health and Social Care Information Centre official became NHS Digital.

In practise, on the day nothing changed except website branding and email signatures. But when announcing the change in April, then-life sciences minister George Freeman said it signalled a greater focus on harnessing “technology and information for modern health care”. It also didn’t help that HSCIC tag was not “well understood” by the public and it was felt the word “digital” would send a clearer signal.

Text messages help obese teens

Text messages encouraging teens to eat healthier increase their chances of keeping their weight down eightfold, a Warwick Business School study claims. In a paper published in the European Health Psychology Society, researchers says they conducted a 12-week pilot of 27 adolescents at an eight-week long weight loss camp.

Thirteen of the teens were sent messages with basic nutritional information and weight loss advice, while the others were sent more motivational messages asking them to commit to concrete aims, such as eating a smaller breakfast or having fruit for desert. The research found the former groups BMI increased while the latter remained the same.

South Central Ambulance trust to deploy new NHS 111 system

South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust is deploying Adastra, a clinical patient management system it hopes will improve its NHS 111 service. The system will integrate NHS 111 with GP systems, providing access to a callers’ medical history. It will also give users triage advice, link into staff directories and provide integrated GP appointment booking.

The system will begin deployment across the trust, which covers Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, in late September or early October. Adastra is an Advanced product, which already supplies systems to the majority of NHS 111 services.

Free wifi in Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch hospitals

Three southern hospital have rolled out free wifi. Covering both the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals and Poole Hospital foundation trusts, the wifi is available for patients, staff, and visitors, with “full streaming” available at some sites The upgrade is funded by the Bournemouth Hospital Charity and provided by Hospedia in conjunction with The Cloud.