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

🕹️ Older residents in Stirlingshire are participating in a University of Stirling project to test digital health activities aimed at improving wellbeing. Funded by Forth Valley and the Lomond Community Led Local Development Programme, the project offers activities such as arcade-style video games, virtual reality experiences and online movement classes to help older adults stay independent.

💓 Leeds Teaching Hospitals is trialling a new app to remotely monitor heart rhythm disorders in patients. FibriCheck, which is being funded by Leeds Hospitals Charity, allows patients to record vital signs including heart rate and blood pressure and send the data directly to the hospital. The trial will assess whether the app can reduce the need for clinical appointments and improve patient care.

🌱 Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is partnering with EMSOL to launch a real-time emissions monitoring platform at its Basingstoke and Winchester hospitals. The initiative, part of the Trust’s Green Plan, aims to reduce air pollution and improve public health. The system will monitor key pollutants with the aim of helping the trust take targeted actions to reduce environmental health risks.

🧬 NHS patients in England with severe thalassaemia are among the first in the world to gain access a new gene-editing therapy called Casgevy. Approved by NICE, the treatment uses CRISPR technology to modify bone marrow stem cells, potentially providing a lifelong cure. Approximately 460 patients aged 12 and older may be eligible for the one-time treatment, which has shown promise in reducing the need for regular blood transfusions.

💻 Health tech startup deepc, which provides AI operating system for radiologists, has announced it has achieved the ISO 27001:2022 certification for information security. The news follows deepc’s recent closure of a Series A funding round with a $13m (£10.1m) extension led by Sofinnova Partners and Bertelsmann Investments.

❓ Did you know?

The global AI in healthcare market is projected to reach USD £614 billion (£480bn) by 2034, according to data by Precedence Research – representing a CAGR of 36.83% from 2024.

The report says that AI is rapidly spreading across the healthcare sector, most notably in diagnostics, treatment outcomes and resource management, with North America leading.

📖 What we’re reading

Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS) has published a guide for organisations developing new digital health solutions.

‘The Innovator Guide to Health Equity‘, published on 5 August 2024, provides guidance for solutions providers around best practices and the importance of considering health equity when designing new technologies.

It also highlights the risks of systemic biases in AI-enabled medical devices, noting that these biases can lead to poorer health outcomes for women, ethnic minorities and people from disadvantaged socio-economic groups.

Commenting on the guide, MaryAnn Ferreux, chief medical officer at Health Innovation KSS, said: “Embedding health equity in your innovation will increase the chances of its success and ensure everyone will benefit from it”.

🚨 Events this week

15 August, virtual event – NHS England: Introduction to the Model Health System