Industry news in brief

The latest Digital Health News industry roundup features a milestone for GenesisCare’s MRI-guided radiotherapy, Accenture’s acquisition of Nautilus and NHS Shared Business Services being named as a great place to work in tech. 

DeepTek receives Thai FDA approval for AI chest x-ray screening solution

DeepTek has announced its chest x-ray screening solution, Genki, has received approval from the Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The solution automates the interpretation of chest x-rays using AI technology to classify scans as normal or abnormal and analysing over 19 different chest pathologies.

The use of artificial intelligence is helping to improve medical diagnosis and treatment efficiency for a number of lung diseases that globally pose significant health challenges.

Genki has already helped to increase the detection rate of TB in patients in India and the Philippines. Additionally,  its effectiveness has been judged to be on a par with human experts, by organisations like StopTB Partnership and Friends for International TB in independent evaluations.

Ajit Patil, co-founder of DeepTek, said: ” The recent approval from the Thai regulatory body testifies to the readiness of the country to adopt AI into their healthcare services. We are happy to have partnered with leading healthcare providers in Thailand and be backed by Shimadzu Asia Pacific. We look forward to tapping vast opportunities in Thailand and beyond.”

DeepTek is actively collaborating with leading hospitals and medical institutions across Thailand to integrate its AI solutions into existing radiology workflows.

GenesisCare treats 1,000^th patient with MRI-guided radiotherapy

GenesisCare UK has recently reached the milestone of treating its 1,000^th patient using a technique called MRI-guided radiotherapy. The technique is an advanced form of cancer treatment that delivers better control of tumours that are otherwise difficult to treat. It also reduces the impact of treatment in more common cancers.

The milestone has placed the GenesisCare UK team among the top 10 institutions in the world for its experience and expertise of MRI-guided radiotherapy.

The centre has been offering the treatment since 2019. It supports the delivery of higher doses of radiation to tumours in the liver, pancreas, and lung, and to tissues that have previously been treated with radiotherapy, than is often possible with conventional radiotherapy.

Additionally, using the MRIdian machine means day-to-day changes in internal anatomy can be detected, allowing doctors to adapt treatment in real-time, minimising side effects at the same time as achieving better tumour control.

Dr James Good, clinical director of stereotactic radiotherapy at GenesisCare, said: “People affected by hard-to-treat cancers have come to us from across the UK and from overseas asking for our help. For example, a number of people with previously inoperable pancreatic cancer have had treatment with us and gone on to have successful surgery. We’ve also been able to treat multiple liver tumours, re-treat areas of the body that have previously received radiotherapy, and tackled tumours in the centre of the chest that are otherwise hard to treat with stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR).”

GenesisCare is currently collaborating with the University of Oxford and funding a clinical trial testing whether pancreatic cancer treatment can safely be shortened from five down to three and even one treatment session.

Canon Medical Arena to include integrated medical diagnostics centre

Set to open in autumn of this year, the newly named Canon Medical Arena is the UK’s first carbon neutral built community arena and will include an integrated medical diagnostics centre.

Based in Sheffield, the arena is anticipated to help relieve diagnostic imaging back-logs for local hospitals as well as provide closer-to-home health appointments for patients.

It will join a growing portfolio of health, well-being, sport, education and research institutions at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park with the collective aim of improving physical and mental health, plus power research and innovation to deliver positive change for the UK population.

The state-of-the-art medical diagnostic centre will be operated by The LivingCare Group. It will feature advanced artificial intelligence (Altivity) assisted CT and MRI scanners, ultrasound, digital X-ray, fluoroscopy, plus consulting rooms and a minor surgery operating theatre.

Mark Hitchman, managing director of Canon Medical Systems UK, said: “Canon Medical Arena is an exciting and unique investment in South Yorkshire to bring new positivity for residents, sporting organisations and businesses by fostering a fresh sense of community engagement. It will provide all the facilities to improve physical exercise, enhance social or business networking and diagnose health concerns earlier, thus boosting community well-being into the future.

Accenture acquires digital healthcare consultancy Nautilus

Nautilus Consulting has joined Accenture’s health strategy & consulting team in the UK, in an acquisition that will enhance Accenture’s digital transformation, implementation and optimisation capabilities in the global healthcare space.

Ashish Goel, a senior managing director who leads Accenture’s Health industry practice in EMEA, said, “With a proven track record in delivering EPR transformation projects, Nautilus has the right talent, digital capabilities, and strategic insights to further harness the data and technology needed to improve the access, experience and outcome of healthcare services.

“Together, our combined expertise will enable healthcare providers to accelerate their digital transformation, drive better outcomes for all – and help us on our journey to becoming a leading healthcare transformation partner of choice.”

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Nautilus will bring to Accenture its vast experience in procurement and implementation of Oracle Health’s Millennium platform (formerly Cerner). The acquisition will allow Accenture to build on its strategic relationship with Oracle Health.

NHS Shared Business Services named as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces in Tech

For the first time, NHS Shared Business Services has been named as one of the UK’s best workplaces in the tech industry by Great Place to Work.

The NHS corporate services provider has seen a recent period of organic growth and as a result created more than 300 new jobs and topped £100 million in turnover.

The award means that NHS SBS joins its parent and sister companies, Sopra Steria Limited and Shared Services Connected Limited.

Erika Bannerman, managing director of NHS SBS, said: “The tech sector is really making its mark as one that leads the way in nurturing employees and where people enjoy coming to work. The role we play in supporting the NHS makes our work particularly meaningful, and I’m delighted we’ve been named one of the UK’s best tech workplaces.

“We will continue to build on and develop our unique culture to ensure we offer the very best experience to both our employees and our NHS partners.”

WiFi SPARK’s healthcare business rebrands as SPARK TSL

WiFi provider WiFi SPARK is set to unveil its new rebranding and logo of its healthcare business at this year’s Healthcare Excellence Through Technology show at ExCeL London.

The new identity, SPARK Technology Services Limited (SPARK TSL), marks the completion of the integration of the former Hospedia bedside unit business, and a new vision for the NHS based on patient engagement and application services.

SPARK TSL’s vision is to make its SPARK media package of communication, media and information services for patients free at the point of use. This would be funded by trusts, health boards and charity partners. In addition, it hopes to create an app store for healthcare, that will support NHS staff to do their jobs more efficiently and inform, educate and empower patients.

SPARK TSL is already working with 120 trusts and health boards. It is currently engaged with an NHS trust that is undertaking a major building project to install the first of the new Horizon bedside terminals. In doing so it hopes to propel the trust towards its goal of becoming a digital exemplar and improving patient outcomes.

Matt O’Donovan, founder and chief executive at SPARK TSL, said: “Under our new name, we have two long-term goals. The first is to make sure that no patient has to pay for entertainment, and the second is to help hospital trusts and health boards to become leaders in digital transformation.

“Right now, we know that one of the biggest obstacles to getting new technology to the frontline is procuring and rolling-out the infrastructure and devices required. We want to offer an easier, faster way for innovators to get their ideas in front of the NHS, and for the NHS to adopt them.

“We firmly believe this will improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare that organisations and their hard-pressed staff can deliver, while empowering every patient to speed up discharge, reduce re-admissions, and speed their recovery.”