Industry news in brief

The latest Digital Health News industry round-up brings you news of a submission call for NHS Scotland workers for innovative ideas, a milestone moment for digital healthcare provider, Livi and Peppy’s call for more employer support for the menopause.

Call for innovation submissions for NHS Scotland

Scottish Healthcare Innovations is encouraging staff across NHS Scotland to submit their innovative ideas for how the delivery of healthcare could be improved.

The company specialises in identifying and developing new ideas which help address needs and issues in health and social care. It works in partnership with the NHS, industry and academia to implement new ideas and fresh solutions that solve problems.

Executive chair at Scottish Healthcare Innovations, Graham Watson, said: “NHS staff have played an invaluable role in healthcare innovation over the last 20 years. We are thankful for their contributions and believe that they can continue driving improvements across the spectrum of healthcare.

“For us, it is about continuing to harness this entrepreneurial talent, accelerating impactful healthcare innovations and having a positive impact on health, social and economic outcomes in Scotland.”

NHS staff can submit ideas for review, and the team at Scottish Healthcare Innovations will assess them before considering which ideas have the greatest potential and fast tracking those.

Inhealthcare’s remote health pathway can be rolled out safely

Scotland’s remote health pathway for people with Covid-19 symptoms, built using Inheatlhcare’s technology, has been found to improve access to NHS services and can be safely rolled out to help others.

The evaluation of the pathway found that patients had positive experiences of using the system and that staff felt supported and engaged.

According to the evaluation it may also help reduce health inequalities, as it found more than twice as many people from disadvantaged areas used the system. In addition, it was found to increase self-management among patients and improve resource efficiency.

The pathway, which went live in January 2021, was designed by a clinical advisory group of experts from general practice, infectious diseases, respiratory medicine, intensive care, emergency medicine, the Scottish Ambulance Service and NHS24. Its aim was to detect and manage early deterioration among Covid-19 patients.

Bryn Sage, chief executive of Inhealthcare, said: “Remote monitoring has become a very important tool for the NHS in supporting the many covid patients who are below the threshold for hospital admission but at risk of deterioration.

“Our technology has come of age during the pandemic and, as this evaluation shows, can be safely rolled out to help more people. The evaluation demonstrates how effective remote monitoring can be in reaching people living in disadvantaged areas. The use of inclusive technology like the traditional telephone landline can help overcome the digital divide.”

Peppy calls for more menopause support from employers

Digital health platform and Pitchfest winner, Peppy, has analysed Google search data and concluded that employees would welcome support from employers on managing the menopause.

It found the most frequently searched-for term relating to menopause and work was ‘menopause in the workplace’ with 5,900 searches last year. Other commonly searched-for terms included ‘menopause at work’, ‘menopause struggling at work’ and ‘menopause and work’.

In total 2021 saw over five million searches for menopause-related terms plus many more search terms that were symptom-related such as ‘night sweats women’ and ‘hot flushes at night’.

Dr Mridula Pore, CEO of Peppy said: “Employers have a great opportunity to step up and provide access to expert, human clinical support for their employees who are affected by menopause or those who want to know more in advance. By providing this support, employers will find they are less likely to experience staff absences or a drop in productivity and their employees will be much better informed and able to cope with any symptoms.

“Interestingly, our research also highlighted a small but not insignificant number of searches for the term ‘menopause friendly workplace’. If this is a sign of things to come then all employers need to take heed: historically we’ve seen reports of huge swathes of menopausal-aged women leave the workplace altogether but perhaps in future, they’ll simply switch to a more menopause-friendly competitor.”

Livi delivers six million patient appointments across its platform

Digital healthcare provider has marked a key milestone in its growth by hitting six million patient appointments across its platform.

Livi (known as Kry in other international markets) has seen a 200% increase in patient consultations since 2020, illustrating the demand for digital healthcare post-Covid, and a 50% rise in doctors and nurses using Livi’s tools.

Through the Livi app, patients can be connected to a doctor, nurse or psychologist within minutes, supporting patients to get a faster diagnosis, referral or prescription. The Mjog by Livi tool is used by 70% of UK healthcare practices and is responsible for sending 10 million patient messages each month, including appointment reminders and health advice.

Johannes Schildt, CEO of Kry said: “We’re proud that digital healthcare is now a critical part of healthcare delivery throughout Europe. The future of personalised, preventative care relies on empowering the patient and giving healthcare professionals access to leading edge technology.

“With our app and technology platforms, we can improve access and deliver better connected health systems across Europe.”

Livi is aiming to drive access, quality and ease of use for patients and has a number of exciting moves to help achieve this. It intends to scale some of it specialist services in new markets – cognitive behavioural therapy and other mental health treatments in the UK. Its internet cognitive behavioural therapy is set to become more immersive and interactive over the course of 2022.

Livi is also set to unveil plans to enhance its B2B SaaS (software-as-a-service) technology aimed at healthcare professionals to give them innovative tools to deliver smarter patient-facing care. Delivering a continuous care experience, it will offer platforms and tools to boost capacity, reduce the administrative burden and better connect patients with quality advice.