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

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is celebrating a milestone year which has seen more than 500 patients treated at home, since the launch of its remote monitoring virtual ward service. Following the launch in November 2023, the trust estimated it had saved 959 bed days in the first six months of the service. New analysis by the trust of the first year of service found it had saved 2,915 hospital bed days and achieved efficiency savings of £1.13 million. Developed in partnership with Inhealthcare, the service has expanded to cover 14 different specialities and established a specialist nursing team.

A new partnership between the Skin Health Alliance and Clear has seen the Skin Health Alliance’s accreditation integrated into the Clear app. The app allows users to track their skincare routines and share their experiences with fellow app users. With the new integration, users will be able to identify products that meet the highest standards of skin safety and efficacy, as set out by the Alliance.

The UK’s first electronic patient record (EPR) network was launched at the EPR Summit, which took place in London on 12 February 2025. The network was developed by Summit organisers, Healthcare Innovation Consortium (HIC) and event management company Convenzis Group. The new network is chaired by Dr Penny Kechagioglou, a senior NHS leader, and offers a platform for members to share insights, best practices and to tackle the challenges facing digital healthcare as a community.

Silobreaker has partnered with the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Health-ISAC) as a Community Services Partner. This collaboration will provide Health-ISAC members, a global non-profit organisation dedicated to improving security and resilience in the healthcare sector, with access to Silobreaker’s intelligence platform. By leveraging Silobreaker’s platform, Health-ISAC members will gain access to real-time, actionable intelligence. This will enable them to proactively manage cyber risks by automating the collection, analysis and dissemination of intelligence.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists has launched a new free resource, sharing and signposting AI as a medical device (AIaMD) tools for use in ophthalmology. The guide is designed to be useful for commissioners, clinicians, vendors, researchers and other healthcare professionals and will be updated regularly as new tools become available.

Did you know

With the digital switchover looming, the UK government published a Telecare National Action Plan on 11 February, setting out how it will safeguard telecare users. Published by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHCS) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the new plan supersedes the 2022 Telecare Stakeholder Action Plan.

The plan identifies four outcomes, and the actions required in order to achieve each of them. The outcomes are:

• No telecare user will be migrated to digital landline services without it first being confirmed that they have a compatible and functioning telecare solution in place.
• The use of analogue telecare devices will be phased out, with DHSC working alongside stakeholders to set a deadline for this in the coming months.
• Telecare users, their support networks and their service providers to fully understand the actions needed to ensure the safe migration to digital services.
• Stakeholders that are identified within the plan to collaborate in order to safeguard telecare users throughout the digital switchover.

The plan will be reviewed every six months to ensure that the needs of telecare uses are fully considered and cared for.

What we’re reading

Following its launch in December 2023, the chief data and analytical officers network (CDAON) has launched its manifesto. The manifesto sets out the shared values and principles that underpin its work and its vision for a “future where services have a bigger impact at a lower cost, guided with precision and purpose by cutting-edge analytics.”

CDAON brings together the most senior data and analytics leaders in healthcare and is hosted by the Association of Professional Healthcare Analysts.

 Upcoming events

21-22 February, Edinburgh – Digital Health and Care Scotland 2024