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

💰Glasgow-based tech firm Archangel has secured a share of £600,000 to deliver an integrated housing and care technology project in South Lanarkshire. The project will see retirement homes in the town of Biggar equipped with 5G-enabled sensors capable of actively monitoring temperature, humidity and motion inside of properties. Data from these sensors will be relayed to Archangel’s ambient assisted living technology platform and used to proactively address any issue that might impact tenants’ health or living conditions.

🏆 Hope 4 The Community CIC (H4C), a digital health social enterprise born out of Coventry University’s Research Centre for Intelligent Healthcare, has won Tech for Good: Technology Social Enterprise of the Year at the UK Social Enterprise Awards 2024. H4C has developed evidence-based self-management programmes that support people through the emotional and social challenges of living with long-term health conditions. H4C has supported more than 14,000 people through its in-person programmes, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, developed a digital platform to deliver services virtually.

🔬 Researchers from Heriot-Watt University have reported “extremely encouraging” results from an early-stage trial of a new imaging technique that they claim detects prostate tumours with 94% accuracy. The technology uses existing ultrasound equipment and reportedly takes just 20 minutes, costing a fraction of MRI scanning while delivering a “20-fold increase” in image resolution. The technology has the potential to transform prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment, the researchers said.

👏 Graphnet has announced that it has signed up its 150,000th Docobo remote monitoring user. Docobo is used in a number of health and care settings across the UK and enables care teams to monitor individuals remotely. This helps to reduce hospital and A&E admissions and GP visits. According to Graphnet, in Frimley, remote monitoring has led to a 19.4% reduction in GP visits, a 38.6% reduction in A&E attendances, a 53.7% reduction in admissions and a 26.7% reduction in outpatient appointments.

🐣 Researchers from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London have found that AI could help inform the best time to collect eggs for IVF success. The team used AI to analyse data from more than 19,000 patients who had completed IVF treatment. The analysis found that treatment is more likely to succeed if the egg collection process starts when follicles reach a certain size. The researchers said the study highlights the potential of AI to personalise IVF treatment and maximise families’ chances of having a baby.

❓Did you know?

Last year was the busiest year on record for A&E and ambulance services, according to NHS figures published on 9 January 2025, with December 2024 recording the highest number of ambulance incidents ever in one month.

Ambulance teams handled 806,405 incidents in December, taking the total number for 2024 to 8.94 million – around one in 14 more than 2023 (8.35 million).

A&Es were also hit by “unprecedented” demand, with 2.35 million attendances in December, bringing the total number of attendances in 2024 to 27.42 million. This makes last year the busiest year for A&Es ever recorded, and 7.1% higher than in 2023.

Meanwhile, a spike in flu cases continues to pile pressure on hospitals into 2025, the figures show. There were an average of 5,407 patients a day in hospital with flu in the week ending 3 January, compared to 1,548 during the same period in 2024.

📖 What we’re reading

‘The Health and Care Outlook for 2025‘, published by The King’s Fund on 8 January 2025, outlines the significant challenges and priorities facing health and social care leaders in the year ahead.

Amid a “quad-demic” of seasonal viruses straining NHS services, report author Sarah Woolnough outlines the formidable to-do list for government ministers in 2025, which include pledges to reform social care, digitise care records and expand community-based health services. These ambitions are set against a backdrop of financial pressures, ongoing industrial action and potential major legislative changes, including the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, the Mental Health Bill and the Assisted Dying Bill.

Woolnough warns, however, that long-term plans risk “kicking the can down the road,” with a new commission to reform social care not set to report fully until 2028. Adding to this, the government is preparing a 10-year plan to reshape the NHS by shifting care from hospitals to communities, adopting digital solutions and prioritising prevention over treatment. Long-term workforce planning and morale also remain critical areas for action, Woolnough notes.

🚨 Upcoming events

16 January, webinar – Femtech Future: Trends & Predictions for Women’s Health Innovation in 2025