Digital Care News - first edition

Welcome to the first edition of Digital Care News. My plan is to pull together some of the top stories in digital health with a focus on home care, plus give a roundup of highlights from the Digital Care team each month. Feedback warmly welcomed! - Tara Donnelly, Founder, Digital Care.

Top Three Stories this Month

1. Your Next Hospital Bed Might be at Home?

“You see patients in their place of power, it’s a totally different thing,” Dr Elizabeth De Pirro says. “That magical difference.”

Excellent story in The New York Times, very comprehensive so a slightly longer read but well worth the time, so grab that cuppa and enjoy. They have an audio version so you can also listen to it if preferred.?Dr Helen Ouyang discusses the “hospital at home” movement in the US and how teams are creating an inpatient level of care in a person’s own bedroom. She references pioneers such as Dr Bruce Leff who it was brilliant to talk to as part of our learning about hospital at home around the globe.

2. Investment in digital innovation in the Budget?

The Budget announced on 15 March contained some exciting news on digital with a focus on evidenced digital tools for some of the most common reasons for illness in working age people - supporting mental health, MSK and CVD.?

“Digital health innovations for mental health, musculoskeletal and cardiovascular conditions will receive ￡310 million of funding over five years. This will be used to digitise the NHS Health Check to identify and prevent more cases of cardiovascular disease. For mental health, they will modernise and digitise mental health services in England, providing wellness and clinical grade apps free at the point of use, pilot cutting-edge digital therapies, and digitise the NHS Talking Therapies programme.” NHS Confed?

The story was also featured in Cover Magazine?-

3. Progress on practical steps to help with digital inclusion

So important when thinking about how to ensure that no one is left behind with the move towards digital home care with a free helpline open to all to help resolve tech queries. Do publicise - the number of the Digital Skills Helpline is 0800 987 4110 set up by We Are Digital and funded by Vodafone.?

“As over a quarter of respondents feel they lack the skills to complete tasks online, Vodaphone is now offering tech assistance and advice through a new free helpline in collaboration with social impact organisation We Are Digital.”

The National Device Bank provides devices and data to those who need them most. They welcome bulk donations from companies and ask charities to get in touch so that the tech can be passed on to those who will benefit. It's a “partnership between Good Things Foundation and Virgin Media, O2, Vodafone, and Three UK. Together we will be supporting people with 500,000 SIMS through this national service delivered by thousands of community partners deep in disadvantaged communities”.?

Three Things we did in March?

1. Enjoyed participating in Digital Health Rewired ?

Tara was part of the opening session on virtual wards where she outlined the huge progress that has been made on digital home care over the past three years, from a fairly low base. That the next step was industrialisation so that the hospital at home model could reach many more people, and that as part of this it was importance that the significance was recognised - how digital home care at scale could unlock real benefits to the NHS - such as reduction in winter pressures, control of emergency admissions for those living with long term conditions, reduced occupancy contributing to better flow.

Jenny MCed the big Rewired start up competition “Six awesome start ups pitched including three DigitalHealth.London alumni (Ufonia, Healthtech 1 and LVNDR). For the first time pitchfest finalists also included two FemTech start ups - Hera and Frendo. This year’s judges were all seasoned pros. When asked how many pitches he’d seen - John Allen, Investor,? confirmed it was “thousands”. He also shared his top pitch tips with the audience. Megan Morys-Carter, Judge, who runs the Hill in Oxford announced the winner Hera - a remote neonatal jaundice screening and care startup. It was amazing to hear about the impact Hera hope to have in lower income countries (healthtech and LICs is a particular interest of mine!). The competition was a great way to end two brilliant days at rewired! Well done Jon Hoeksma and team.”

Tara also chaired a roundtable hosted by Radar Healthcare, where a lively group discussed ‘people, processes, and technology: how to tackle current and future challenges in the NHS.’ It was a great discussion, offering new insights into how technology is transforming data use and patient safety and will be written up by the Radar team.?

2. Recorded for an MSc in Digital health?

Tara spent two March mornings recording for the module on self care, home monitoring and digital home care in general for the Masters programme run by the University of Central Lancashire. “Great to catch up with legend Professor Mike Bewick who runs the course and to record with the amazing Dzidek Sabat and team who made it such a pleasure. The Masters gets a lively intake from a range of professionals both from the NHS and internationally. It is delivered primarily through online learning – so it’s possible to combine study with working life”?

3. The Future of the NHS - at WIRED Health?

Tara joined Yinka Makinde and Hiba Sher Khan on the panel at WIRED Health entitled “The Future of the NHS” where visions were shared on what this might look like, and what we need to do to ensure that. Jenny contributed to one of the key themes of the event - women's health and tech - at a roundtable. A terrific event and energising to catch up with so many passionate believers.?

www. Digital-Care.Health?