Healthcare IT industry news in brief

This week's industry round-up focuses on companies, and includes news of rebrands, a new chief executive for Caradigm, and projects that firms are involved in, including a huge European telehealth trial led by Royal Philips.

Company changes and rebrands

Bluespier becomes part of Clanwilliam Group

Bluespier International, a provider of theatre management systems, has become part of the Clanwilliam Group, an investment group founded by Eli Global and Irish healthcare technology entrepreneur Howard Beggs with a number of IT businesses. Gavin Webb, the co-founder of Bluespier, will continue to be a shareholder and to run the business as managing director.

Dr Now announces rebrand

Now Healthcare Group has announced that its flagship product, Dr Now, is to be rebranded as Now GP in the United Kingdom; although the old name will continue to be used worldwide. The company said market research had suggested that ‘Now GP’ was a better name in the UK, because of its association with general practice.

Dr Now was launched in August 2015 as a diagnosis app that was linked to the delivery of medicines from a distribution hub, Now Pharmacy. Users can also talk to a UK-based GP via a smartphone video consultation.

Medisoft wins Queens Award for Innovation

Electronic medical records supplier Medisoft has won a 2016 Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation for its work on its flagship product, Medisoft Opthalmology. This is used by more than 100 NHS hospitals, plus private clinics, to record clinic visits, investigations, and eye surgery, and to generate benchmarking and comparison reports. Christian Martin, the company’s managing director, said: “This prestigious award is a testament to the achievements of a remarkably talented and hardworking team.”

Appointments

Caradigm appoints chief executive

Caradigm has promoted its chief technology officer Neal Singh to chief executive. He will take over from Michael Simpson who has led the company since it was founded as a joint venture between Microsoft and GE four years ago. The company, which now focuses on population health, has also become a wholly owned affiliate of GE Healthcare.

Insignia appoints applications specialist

Insignia Medical Systems has appointed a new applications specialist, Richard Bulmer, from Milton Keynes NHS Foundation Trust, where he was radiology IT lead. He said his new role would enable him to “bring my end user experience to… supporting customers through PACS installations and the development of Insignia’s industry leading products.”

New activites and products

Royal Philips sets up European telehealth trials

Royal Philips and a consortium of European healthcare regions, universities, hospitals and companies has announced the start of a large scale care co-ordination and telehealth programme – ACT@Scale – that will reach tens of thousands of people living with acute conditions over three years.

The regions include Northern Ireland, where remote telemonitoring programmes will be run for patients with COPD, diabetes and maternal obesity, Catalonia, where the focus will be on supporting nursing homes, Denmark, where the focus will be psychiatric treatment, The Netherlands and the Basque Country in Spain, where the focus is also on COPD and older patients with multiple conditions.

Nugensis launches web-based PharmacyView

Nugensis, an IT company with a particular interest in health and care, has launched a web-based tool called PharmacyView to enable pharmacists to identify and prioritise pharmacy workload, particularly when they are working on wards, and to provide updates on key workflows, such as handover and discharge.

Pharmacy View can be run on its own or linked to e-prescribing platforms such as JAC and Ascribe. It is already in use in five NHS Boards in Scotland – Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Borders, Tayside, and Fife – and the company is talking to hospitals in the rest of the UK.

Inhealthcare expands into mental health

Harrogate-based Inhealthcare has announced that it is developing digital services to help people suffering from low-level depression and anxiety. The company, which is probably best known for its Pain Sense app, which helps people with chronic pain, is working with academics and the not-for-profit company My Possible Sense on the new mental health service.

My Possible Self was founded by Joanne Wilkinson in 2009 and provides emotional health and wellbeing support to patients. She said working with a digital company would enable it to reach many more patients with self-help and resilience strategies.