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
🤖 Barts Health NHS Trust says it is using around 40 different AI applications to transform care at the trust, made possible by the “robust” IT infrastructure it has put in place in recent years. This includes AI tools to reduce admin burden and improve operational efficiency; analyse data and images and enhance clinical decision-making; identifying high-risk patients in emergency care; and scanning blood film images to flag the risk of leukaemia.
⌛ Digital governance app MyStaff is freeing up 13 hours per month for nurses at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (MSE FT) to spend on direct patient care while boosting patient safety metrics. Designed by Diligram, MyStaff ensures healthcare professionals have instant access to up-to-date clinical guidelines, reducing the risk of outdated information impacting patient care. AT MSE FT, document retrieval time has been slashed from 10 minutes to just 30 seconds.
💰Healthtech company HealsGood has announced the closure of a £1.5 million funding round to scale its Flexzo AI platform, designed to simplify recruitment for NHS trusts. The locum platform gives trusts immediate access to a pool of over 30,000 healthcare professionals, enabling them to quickly fill staffing gaps and help reduce waiting lists. The funding round was led by Fuel Ventures.
🩺 Wessex Kidney Centre is using new technology to identify and manage chronic kidney disease. Supported by Kidney Care UK and Nova Biomedical, staff have been offering screening using a quick and simple test that can detect signs of chronic kidney disease in 30 seconds. The centre is also working with MyRenalCare, an app that allows patients with chronic kidney disease to manage their condition remotely.
🖥️ Use of the Thames Valley and Surrey (TVS) Care Record is increasing as the integration of shared care records continues across Buckinghamshire, Berkshire West, Frimley, Oxfordshire and Surrey. Between July 2024 and January 2025, 30% more patient records were accessed on the Graphnet-powered system. Health and social care users increased by almost seven percent, while some GPs have seen a 27% drop in calls from staff in other services requesting information.
❓Did you know?
Genomic testing and targeted therapies for patients with advanced cancer could improve survival rates by up to 40%, according to research by Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, University of Adelaide and University of Oxford.
While matched targeted therapies have proven effective in newly diagnosed cancer cases, their effectiveness in advanced cancer has not been clear.
However, new research that analysed data from 37 randomised controlled trials involving nearly 10,000 participants found that a wider group of cancer patients could benefit from NGS-guided targeted therapies.
Dr Farasat Kazmi, senior oncology registrar at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and lead author of the study, said: “We have performed the largest and most comprehensive review to date, and it highlights the potential of genomic testing in guiding personalised cancer treatment.
“It clearly demonstrates that matched targeted therapies significantly improve progression-free survival by 35 to 40%.”
📖 What we’re reading
The study ‘Working lives with dementia: A digital futures perspective’, published in the March 2025 edition of the Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology (Volume 98, issue one) argues that people with dementia can benefit from new digital technologies if organisations adapt workplaces for diverse needs.
Written by James Fletcher and Olivia Brown from the University of Bath School of Management, the study was published in response to the UK government’s welfare reform plans, part of which is to encourage more disabled people into work.
The study argues that even simple adjustments to working environments, such as improving workstation lighting and providing workers with calendars, voice activated controls and automatic reminders, can make a big difference for somebody diagnosed with dementia.
Fletcher said that AI in particular “offers really interesting opportunities” for empowering people with dementia in the workplace.
“[AI] is superb at solving many of the problems faced by those with dementia, such as finding words, organising text and putting words in the right sequence.
“Couple that with the potential offered by hybrid working for those with dementia, and you can see the benefits for both employees and companies.
“The bottom line is that we have an ageing population and workforce in which dementia will feature and which should, and can be, accommodated by the judicious use of digital technology and adapting working conditions. The reality is, this is not dealt with in any meaningful way right now – there are very rarely strategies in place” Fletcher said.
🚨 Upcoming events
8-10 April, Berlin – DMEA 2025
