Industry news in brief

This month’s industry round-up includes news Livi has sent millions of text notifications to support the Covid-19 vaccination programme and teleradiology provider Medica procures Sectra PACS.

From today Digital Health News will be publishing its industry round-up twice a month alongside the go-lives round up and movers and shakers. But don’t worry, you can still get all of your mobile apps news, it will be included in the industry column.

Livi supports Covid-19 vaccination programme

Online GP provider Livi has supported the Covid-19 vaccination programme by sending reminder texts through its MJog platform.

Practices have used the system to inform, manage and care for patients throughout the pandemic, the company said.

In 2020, GP practices used MJog to send more than 200 million messages, up 140% since 2019, reaching an audience of over 32 million patients

Some 25 million SMS messages, most of which were Covid-19 vaccination related messages were sent out through Livi’s MJog platform directly to patients between 8 December 2020 and 29 January 2021, a 220% increase on the same period the previous year.

In the same period five million appointment reminders were sent out.

Juliet Bauer, UK Managing Director, Livi said: “UK efforts to vaccinate the elderly and vulnerable have been heroic, recently reaching the 12 million people mark. Livi has supported information rollout around the vaccine and we believe that now, more than ever, prioritising seamless communications and access for patients is paramount.

“Additionally, through our MJog Platform, Livi has enabled people to set up their vaccination appointment and receive reminders. We are proud to be part of an operation that is giving hope to so many people.”

More than five million people can now access Livi’s GPs through the NHS and use video consultations for appointments. Livi was appointed by the NHS to run the Covid Home Monitoring Service providing crucial data back to the NHS on the early emergency of Covid-19.

Visionable offers free video calling platform to NHS trusts

Visionable has renewed its offer of free video calls to connect hospital patients with their loved ones as the Covid-19 pandemic continues.

The company, which has developed a unique video collaboration platform that is used for multi-disciplinary team meetings and virtual clinics across the NHS, created Visionable Connect in the first wave, to support patients who could not receive visits from family and friends.

Alan Lowe, chief executive of Visionable, said: “When we first launched Visionable Connect to NHS trusts we were moved to hear about the impact that it had, particularly where it was used to connect patients in intensive care with their loved ones.

“One trust told us about a patient from Canada who would not have been able to say goodbye to his family without the opportunity to do so virtually.

“At a time when love and support continues to be vital, we are hoping that Visionable Connect will go some way towards supporting the NHS and its patients at this incredibly difficult time.”

Doctor Care Anywhere experiences massive growth

Doctor Care Anywhere delivered growth across all of its key operating and financial measures in the quarter ending December 2020.

The company now covers 2.2 million patients and conducted more than 1,300 consultations in a single day in November 2020.

The company reported revenue of £11.6m – a 102% increase on 2019.

Dr Bayju Thakar, founder and CEO of Doctor Care Anywhere, said: “We continue to see robust growth in consultation volumes across all channel partners, as new and existing patients become accustomed to adopting digital healthcare into their everyday lives.

“Consultations have grown over 300% on the prior corresponding period and this demand has helped deliver positive financial outcomes for the company while demonstrating that we are providing a much-needed service to patients across the UK and Ireland.”

Teleradiology provider Medica procures Sectra PACS

The largest provider of teleradiology services to NHS hospitals, Medica Group, has secured Sectra PACS.

The company will use Sectra’s enterprise imaging solution to automate processes, improve productivity, and give its hundreds of radiology professionals sophisticated tools to examine and report on patient images.

More than 450 radiologists and reporting radiographers who work with the teleradiology provider will be supported by a new enterprise imaging solution as they deliver important elective and emergency reports around the clock for more than 100 hospitals in the UK.

Dr Robert Lavis, radiologist and clinical director at Medica, said: “Our current PACS has served us well for many years but with our contract ending in 2022 we took the opportunity to evaluate the marketplace.

“Sectra emerged as a clear preference based not only on the excellent core solution they offer now but also because of their appetite to partner with us to develop new ways to support our clients in the future. We rely heavily on our PACS and this new flexible platform will provide our reporters with excellent reporting tools as soon as it is deployed.

“Integrated, anatomy-based imaging linking will, for example, simplify workflows needed to report cancer-based imaging with automated cross reference to previous studies.”

Connect Health launches Academy to improve workforce learning

Connect Health has launched the Academy to drive higher standards of healthcare for its 375,000 NHS patients and 100-plus occupational health physiotherapy services.

The in-house learning centre builds on fundamental values that a well-trained workforce means better outcomes for patients.

Appointed in March 2020 to help establish the Academy, Ash James, national education lead at Connect Health, said: “What we are now offering is more rounded, better aligned and timely education suited completely to a person’s competency and needs.

“Each team member will have their own unique training programme that they can work through. Set within competency framework parameters they will access the most up-to-date, evidence-based learning available that will ultimately help them deliver better care to their patients.”

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