Industry news in brief

The latest Digital Health news industry round-up includes an award of £1.4m for Mendelian to further develop its AI solutions, a pilot for a state-of-the-art prehabilitation programme at James Paget University Hospitals and the launch of Spex Capital’s €100m health tech fund.

Global report names BEAMS hospital system as one to watch

A 2023 report on the clinical alarm management market by Future Market Insights has named Tutum Medical’s Bedside Equipment Alarm Monitoring System (BEAMS) as a recent development in the market to watch.

The reports says: “Sheffield Children’s Hospital announced a collaboration with Tutum Medical in March 2017 to create a revolutionary design for a Bedside Equipment Alarm Monitoring System (BEAMS). The system provides crucial bedside equipment monitoring to improve nursing staff response times to alarms. The solution is expected to cut alarm response time by up to 95%, considerably lowering alarm fatigue and enhancing staff availability to serve important patients effectively.”

The collaboration between Tutum Medical and Sheffield Children’s Hospital led to a monitoring system that enabled nurses to significantly improve the response times to critical bedside alarms.

It integrates a digital platform with audible monitor, a speaker system and nurse consoles. In addition, the need to interface with hospital infrastructure has been removed as it creates its own wi-fi mesh network.

Paul Rawlinson, managing director of Tutum Medical Ltd, said: “Being included in this global report just shows what a significant impact our BEAMS system is making in and for UK hospitals, especially for nurses’ efficiency and wellbeing and improving patients’ safety and experience.

“Every hospital where the multi-award-winning BEAMS system has been adopted or trialled has seen improvement in response times to all bedside alarms.”

Mendelian awarded £1.4m in AI healthcare awards
Mendelian, a healthcare startup has been awarded £1.4 million as part of the government’s investment into AI technology within the NHS.

The company will use the funding from The Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Awards (AI Awards) to further develop and roll out its AI-powered solutions that are helping to accelerate rare disease diagnosis.

Currently, Mendelian’s MendelScan software is used in over 50 NHS primary care practices across England. The AI case-finding tool aims to optimise how people with unrecognised or undiagnosed rare diseases are moved towards possible diagnoses on a large scale.

By doing so not only are patients then able to access the best available management and treatment, but it also helps reduce the burden on the NHS.

Mendelian chief executive, Dr Peter Fish, said: “This will unlock our journey towards shifting the way healthcare systems improve care for rare disease patients, delivering benefit to the NHS, the doctors who use the tool and, most importantly, everyone of us as health service users.”

Thanks to the award, Mendelian plans to further trial its MendelScan software within primary care electronic health records in GP practices across the UK. It will also carry out real-world efficacy testing with the aim of building valid evidence of its effectiveness and exploring the potential for nationwide adoption.

Spex Capital launches €100m health tech fund

Spex Capital, an early-stage investor in health tech solutions, has announced the launch of the Spex Venture HealthTech Fund.

The closed-end fund has a target size of €100m and will invest globally in early stage health tech ventures, from seed to Series A, up to €5M.

Spex Capital has also formed an exclusive two-year partnership with MedCity, the life sciences cluster organisation for London. As a result, it is benefitting from connections to the NHS in England and an extensive reach across the wider health tech ecosystem.

The partnership has resulted in joint activities such as an international investment programme that contributes to the flow of around 1,000 healthcare companies developing breakthrough technologies every year.

Claudio D’Angelo, founder and CEO of Spex Capital, said: “Even before covid-19, the drive for countries to make better use of digital technology in healthcare had already begun. With this fund, our partnership with MedCity, and a broad network of high calibre senior advisors, we will have unparalleled access to invest in the best start-ups within this space.” 

James Paget University Hospitals pilots state-of-the-art prehabilitation programme

Newly diagnosed cancer patients at the James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are being given access to a specially designed digital cancer care app to help them prepare for their treatment.

The app will link patients with their clinical teams ensuring easy communication and help them to monitor progress. It will also give them access to specialist exercise classes in a local gym as well as other lifestyle and psychological support.

Careology has developed the app. The company will also provide virtual support when needed, with patients being able to access trusted information from Macmillan Cancer Support, downloaded from a bespoke interface.

In addition, Careology will provide a virtual ward. This will give remote insights and data to allow clinical teams to safely monitor patients and their progress.

Nikki Sawkins, cancer prehabilitation nurse lead at James Paget University Hospitals, said: “There is evidence that suggests that prehabilitation cancer programmes not only help patients improve their general fitness and mental health but also help them recover from surgery and treatment more quickly.

“Our clinical team is excited to see the positive effects this programme offers to patients. For us it was important to be able to offer a more personalised experience before people start their treatment.”

Initially, the service is to be offered to patients in the Great Yarmouth and Waveney area who have been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. There are plans to extend this as the pilot evolves. The pilot is funded by the East of England Cancer Alliance, which works as part of NHS England.

Qure.ai and Therapixel team up to improve AI-powered breast cancer screening

Quer.ai has announced a partnership with Therapixel, which will see the former become a global distributor for Therapixel’s MammoScreen, to help improve breast cancer detection accuracy and efficiency.

MammoScreen is an AI-powered decision support tool for breast cancer screening and enables radiologists to read large numbers of screening mammograms confidently.

Prashant Warier, CEO and co-founder of Qure.ai, said: “… partnering with Therapixel is a significant milestone in Qure’s overall partnership strategy and will further complement our extensive solutions portfolio.

“This collaboration also builds on Qure’s global deep distribution networks and opens a pipeline for future partnerships to strengthen our standing as a leader amongst radiology AI platforms.”

According to the company; “MammoScreen has enabled radiologists of all experience levels to significantly improve their performance” regarding the number of cancers detected and reading time.

Ultimately an improvement on radiologists’ performance will lead to more accurate, earlier diagnoses and better patient outcomes.