Digital Health Coffee Time Briefing ☕

Your morning summary of digital health news, information and events to know about if you want to be “in the know”.

???? News 

???? As part of its 2025 Epic EPR implementation, East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust has awarded a two-year contract to Dakota Integrated Solutions Ltd. Worth just over £1m the contract will see Dakota supply mobile devices, printers and barcode scanners, as well as offer training, maintenance and support for the data capture hardware and services. 

???? Telefónica Tech is to provide numerous infrastructure technology solutions to Children’s Health Ireland for the new digital children’s hospital, set to open in 2025. A five-year contract will see Telefónica Tech oversee all servers, storage, security, printers, PCs, workstations on wheels and laptops, with a platform that will support the clinical applications that will integrate to the hospital’s EPR system from Epic. 

???? HealthKey has raised £1.13m in a round led by Aviva Ventures. The funding will allow the digital health platform to focus on further enhancing its capabilities, as well as expand the number of integrations with health and life insurers, health plan providers and corporate employers. It will also widen the selection of health service providers available through the platform. Existing services available via Healthkey include preventative healthcare experts like Thriva Health; reproductive health specialists like Hertility; mental wellbeing services like Flow neuroscience and more. 

???? NHS Golden Jubilee is rolling out a web-based customer service tool that will support accessible patient experiences for patients with disabilities. It follows a successful six-month pilot in the NHS Golden Jubilee Eye Centre in 2021. WelcoMe allows users to build and share an accessibility profile for their specific needs to support their hospital visits. 

???? The MS Trust has announced the launch of My MS Expert, the first interactive online video designed to make health information accessible to more people living with multiple sclerosis. My MS Expert is an interactive video designed to give people with MS access to information in an accessible and friendly format. 

❓ Did you know that? 

Spending power worth millions of pounds to local economies in Humber and North Yorkshire would be unlocked if England became completely smokefree, according to a new study. 

The research, led by the University of Sheffield’s Addictions Research Group in collaboration with the University of Nottingham, reveals if everyone in the country quit smoking, the economic gain would equate to £1,776 per smoker or £246 per adult regardless of smoking status – money which could then be spent in local communities. 

Overall, the study suggests that going completely smokefree could free up £10.9 billion nationwide and a staggering £1.2 billion in the Yorkshire and Humber area. 

???? What we’re reading 

Forbes – Apple’s Work In Healthcare Is Just Getting Started 

???? This week’s events 

24-25 April, ExCeL London – Digital Healthcare Show