Industry news in brief
- 11 August 2023
This Digital Health News industry roundup covers a new framework agreement for BridgeHead Software, a promising study of triaging chest x-rays at Frimley Health and NHS West Yorkshire ICB transforming its social communications with Orlo.
BridgeHead Software awarded new Framework Agreement
BridgeHead Software, a healthcare data management company, has been awarded on to the new National Framework Agreement for Legacy Information Integration and Management.
The new framework agreement provides NHS Trusts with the ability to procure BridgeHead’s award-winning HealthStore Clinical Data Repository solution and associated data services to help them retire their legacy applications whilst providing ongoing access to the data they contain.
The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s Commercial Procurement Services recognised the challenges faced by many NHS organisations around how to deal with legacy applications and data; thus creating the new framework agreement to enable NHS Trusts to purchase solutions and services to help tackle these issues.
Today, NHS Trusts manage an array of legacy applications. These can be outdated or unsupported applications; duplicate systems (often arising following a merger); or those that have been replaced by more modern, fuller-featured applications as is the case with the introduction or replacement of new EPR solutions (as part of the Frontline Digitisation initiative) or LIMS systems (as part of the Diagnostic Modernisation program).
Yet these legacy applications still contain valuable patient, clinical, and operational data, which is often difficult to access by staff, as and when needed.
BridgeHead’s HealthStore offers an innovative, legacy information and management solution that can be deployed in the Cloud or on-premise. HealthStore ingests data from multiple, disparate legacy systems into a central repository and registry, where it is stored efficiently and intelligently; protected from misuse, loss and cyberattack; and made available as part of the 360-degree patient record, with the ability to integrate with primary systems, such as the EPR, all in ‘patient context’.
NHS West Yorkshire ICB transforms its social media communications with Orlo
NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) has implemented Orlo’s social media management platform to ensure consistent communication and outreach to the public across the region.
This is part of the ICB’s overall strategy to rationalise digital communications and promote innovation across health and care organisations in West Yorkshire.
The Orlo platform enables NHS West Yorkshire ICB to publish and schedule social media campaigns on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn and more. This also provides the ability to manage inbound demand, plus monitor emerging trends, changing sentiment and community opinions using social listening across platforms.
The new system also offers its communication staff easier access to share the ICB’s own social media assets as well as content disseminated by NHS England and other strategic partners.
This means each user can navigate the platform with confidence and feel part of a unified communications team rather than working in isolation. It also allows the ICB to maintain consistency in content across all areas.
NHS West Yorkshire ICB shares the Orlo platform with colleagues from the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, including programmes based at Leeds and Yorkshire Partnership Foundation Trust, South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts, Airedale NHS Foundation Trust and West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit.
SS&C, UK Health Dept Shared Business Services Team Up to Deliver Digital Transformation to NHS
SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. announced a partnership with NHS Shared Business Services (SBS), the leading provider of corporate services to the NHS in England. The agreement builds on SS&C’s relationship with select NHS organizations to use intelligent automation within back-office processes.
Through the extended agreement with NHS SBS, more NHS organisations can leverage automation to deliver better care, cut down patient waiting lists and improve the healthcare worker experience.
“Our thriving intelligent automation program is further enhanced by our partnership with SS&C Blue Prism, which already has a robust presence within the NHS,” said James Parker, automation lead for NHS SBS. “The integrability of their solutions supports our NHS customers who use different automation suppliers, facilitating data interoperability to meet the needs of NHS organisations.”
NHS SBS was established in 2004 and is a joint venture between the U.K. government’s health department and Sopra Steria, a European tech leader recognised for its consulting, digital services and software development.
SS&C Blue Prism is well positioned to build on the joint venture’s success, which has automated over 250 processes and saved over 400,000 hours on behalf of the NHS. The automation has also cut costs through client debt recovery, value-added tax reclamation and procurement savings.
With SS&C Blue Prism’s intelligent automation platform, NHS organizations can improve patient care with new patient engagement models, expedited patient processing, standardized services and contact centre communications.
Intelligent automation will also be implemented in HR, procurement, and finance, freeing professionals to focus on more value-adding work. Over 130 digital workers are deployed with NHS SBS to drive efficiency and enable staff to focus on more valuable, patient-centred work.
AI study at Frimley Health Trust show 99.7% accuracy in triaging chest X-rays as normal
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust and Qure.ai have announced the early results of a pilot study using an innovative radiology AI solution to read and differentiate between normal and abnormal chest X-rays (CXRs).
qXR, a CE class IIb MDR cleared solution developed by Qure, was deployed with the hypothesis to categorise normal x-rays – approximately 40% of the caseload from GP and outpatient requests – and augment overall reporting efficiency.
The aim of the study was to highlight AI’s potential role in optimising radiology department workflows, to boost efficiency and enhance patient outcomes.
Early results show 99.7% accuracy in triaging CXRs as normal, with the potential to reduce consultant radiologist’s workload by up to 58% by transferring cases to radiographer reporting workload. This could save consultant radiologists up to 2 hours per day, freeing up time to concentrate on specialist and complex imaging reports.
Additionally, the qXR AI identified all cancer cases, including inconspicuous cancer risk nodules that may traditionally remain unnoticed. This heralds the potential of using AI for early detection and treatment of lung cancer.
