Monitoring the social media activity of HCPs

Doing your research when planning a digital engagement strategy

Fast Track

• Listening to organic conversation allows insights into what HCPs are actually discussing


• Brand managers need to know which channels customers are using and what content will appeal to them before incorporating it into the brand strategy


• Monitoring HCP-only conversation typically means less pharmacovigilance and adverse event reports.

As one of the more heavily regulated industries, it has not been easy for pharma to engage in the digital space. Many pharmaceutical companies are aware that doctors & patients are discussing their brands, therapy areas and treatments online but are wary of joining the conversation. General social media monitoring is an area of caution because of the prospect of uncovering potentially reportable adverse events.

Brand managers want to embrace digital but are unsure of which channels their customers are actually active on. Even if they decide which channels to utilise they don’t know the kinds of content their customers would want to read and share. Before entering the digital space it is essential for pharma to do specific market research and understand the answer to these key questions and more. Digital market research done well provides pharma with essential information that helps create a social media engagement strategy which really makes an impact.

An essential first step

Healthcare professional (HCP) social media market research is fast becoming considered as an excellent means for pharma to make their its step into the digital arena. Here are three reasons why.

1	HCP social media monitoring is a great new source of market research. Over the last few years HCPs have started using public social media channels to discuss news, policy, opinion, treatments and brands with their colleagues from all over the world in real time. They are using social media to create their own communities like the #FOAMed movement (Free Open Access Medical Education). This hashtag was created by emergency physicians, for emergency physicians, and is used as a way for them to collaborate and seek advice on clinical cases. Listening to their organic conversation allows pharma to access insights into what HCPs are discussing rather than taking the lead in the conversation with survey questions like traditional market research. Even if you are not yet ready to start your social media strategy these insights can help inform your offline tactics as well.
2	Market research allows you to create a digital strategy that will resonate with your customers. Brand managers realise the importance of adopting digital marketing but understand they need to know which channels customers are using and what content will appeal to them before incorporating it into the brand strategy. HCP social media monitoring gives you access to tens of thousands of HCP discussions which can be used like an extensive focus group. Finding out which channels each stakeholder is using, what his or her unique needs and concerns are and what type of content he or she is sharing will ultimately produce content you know will be valuable.
3	Monitoring HCP-only conversation typically means less pharmacovigilance and adverse event (AE) reporting issues. Companies tend to have slightly different compliance regulations. When looking at HCP conversation there are a minimal number of adverse events within HCP conversation; for a normal twelve-month study it is usually less than a handful. The fact that AE reports are low means monitoring HCP-only conversation is more accessible for pharma. The knowledge that you won’t have to deal with hundreds or thousands of AE reports makes HCP social media monitoring a less risky environment as an initial step.

Region specific market research

If your drug or product is being marketed throughout Europe then you may consider a regional HCP market research study, which looks at each countries’ individual needs. While HCPs on social media are generally keen to collaborate with colleagues on a whole range of topics from diagnosis to treatments we do see differences in how HCPs in each country interact on social media. We also see HCPs collaborating across borders, despite language differences.

Through our HCP studies we have seen that each region has its own exclusive insights ranging from different topics being discussed in each country to particular regions showing a preference towards certain social media channels. An example of this is Germans’apparent aversion to Twitter. This observation came to light in a recent study looking at how HCPs are discussing cardiovascular topics in five major regions in Europe. We noticed there was significantly less conversation on Twitter from German HCPs. Further investigating showed that they had a preference towards longer-forum public channels such as forums, blogs & videos. The main reason for this is simply that a German person’s perspective is more difficult to put into 140 character bursts of information than other languages, according to an article in The Economist. It is often not enough to do one single piece of research for the whole of Europe. A study for each region is notably more valuable.

Over the last 18 months pharma has realised that, with several hundred thousand HCPs using social media, HCP social media market research is the best first step when thinking about getting involved in social. The reduction of AE reporting reduces risk, and learning so much about your customers means you can move on to create your HCP social media campaign armed with real customer intelligence for your specific region.

Benefit your brand

The next step from here is to use your HCP market research to create an engagement strategy for HCPs, both online and offline. Your content and strategy can be tailored to their expressed needs and will provide information that will actually resonate with them. We have seen pharmaceutical brands use the insights to:

• Create a list of HCP digital opinion leaders and produce a bespoke engagement strategy for them

• Develop a training programme offline that answered the problems nurses were expressing online

• Provide field reps with personalised information about the doctors they are meeting

• Prepare congress messages.

…and much, more. Each pharmaceutical brand that has commissioned an HCP market research study has used its insights in new and innovative ways, which makes this an exciting time for pharma to start its involvement with social media.

Source PMLive http://www.pmlive.com/blogs/smart_thinking/archive/2014/november/do_your_research

Monitoring the social media activity of HCPs

NHS England silent on tech fund delay

NHS England has been unable to answer repeated questions about when it will announce the list of trusts that made successful bids to the second round of its technology fund, as rumours swirl that the money on offer has been slashed.

The delay in confirming which organisations will receive money from what is officially called the ‘Integrated Digital Care Fund’ has frustrated several trusts, which have told EHI their projects and finances may be affected as a result.

At EHI Live 2014 in Birmingham, Beverley Bryant said an announcement had “cleared the wall of NHS England” and become stuck in the inbox of Danny Alexander – the chief secretary to the Treasury.

NHS England’s director of strategic systems and technology, said she was “beyond sorry” about the delay, and was hoping an announcement would be made by 7 November.

However, three weeks on, repeated calls to NHS England by EHI have been met with repeated statements that the announcement remains “imminent”.

At the same time, trusts with unsuccessful bids appear to have been given the bad news, but trusts with successful bids have yet to be told or to be given details of what they can expect.

One trust contacted by EHI has been told that it will receive a percentage of the funding requested, with no information about when or whether any further money will be forthcoming.

Another trust source told EHI the delay is a “huge” frustration. “I don’t want to start paying contractors unless I know I’ve got a good 12 to 15 months of funding, so it’s affecting our ability to move forward,” they said.

“My concern is that if we don’t get an answer in the next few weeks, we’re at risk of losing the contractors with all of the knowledge, because we can’t afford to extend again; and that’s going to leave a big hole.”

The source said the uncertainty is also having an impact on planned bids for the second round of the Nursing Technology Fund, with trusts unsure whether they will be above or below its threshold for funding.

A key IT figure at another trust expressed similar concerns. “We’re pushing ahead and doing a business case as planned, and we very much hope we get it, but a few other trusts will struggle.”

This source also noted that the ongoing delay might make it difficult for trusts to spend any funding they did receive before the end of the current financial year. Under Treasury rules, this might lead to some money being lost.

Similar delays to the first, or ‘Safer Hospitals, Safer Wards: Technology Fund’, meant that around £60m of its £260m was clawed back.

However, there is concern that the second round of tech funding has already been reduced, with another source telling EHI that it has been cut from £240m to £140m.

There is speculation that the fund has been slashed to enable the government to find more money for “winter pressures”, ahead of the general election due on 7 May.

Chancellor George Osborne will give his annual autumn statement to Parliament on 3 December, and there has been speculation among political commentators that he will find as much as £1.5 billion for the NHS.

While the delays might be out of NHS England’s control, trusts and suppliers contacted by EHI argued that contingencies should have been built in, given the problems experienced with the first round.

“I think it’s been better than last time, and it is an evolving process, but I think they’re probably jumping in feet first and don’t plan ahead enough,” one supplier said.

Richard Jefferson, NHS England’s head of business systems, acknowledged the frustration over the lack of communication while speaking at the Open Source Open Day in Newcastle.

“I imagine that if I open the floor up to questions, I’ll get about 50 people asking me when they’ll be told and I can’t answer that.”

However, Jefferson said he had been told that all unsuccessful bidders have been contacted by NHS England.

EHI reported in August that 226 bids worth £360m had been made to tech fund 2; which is due to release £160m in this financial year and £80m next.

The focus of the fund is expected to be digital maturity within trusts, and integrated digital care record or information sharing projects; for which trusts can make bids with other organisations, including councils.

Source 27 November 2014   Sam Sachdeva, EHI.co.uk http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/EHI/9767/nhs-england-silent-on-tech-fund-delay

NHS England silent on tech fund delay

The balance of power in healthcare

Meeting patient needs and keeping pace with technological advances

So much of what we do is oriented to healthcare professionals, it leaves me a little worried about just how good many patients’ experiences are when it comes to taking, understanding and adhering to their medications.This year’s ThinkDigital event, entitled Customers in Control, was dedicated to really focusing on how the balance of power around healthcare decisions has moved from being entirely the domain of the healthcare professional to a dialogue (most of the time) between the professional, the patient and sometimes the carer.

This shift is remarkable. For patients 30 years ago anything beyond Disprin or paracetamol was really an unpronounceable drug name with little context for the consumer beyond its role as a treatment for some sort of illness. The message was very much: take the pills as prescribed and come back in two weeks if you haven’t experienced any improvement. This shift towards a more empowered patient has really only happened with the advent of the Internet and the world wide web. Today we are the midst of a revolution – a revolution that gives patients a powerful voice in their treatment and the choices that are available. But are we prepared as an industry for what this revolution means?

A time of great change

ThinkDigital 14 featured speakers from across the stakeholder spectrum delivering their point of view on the changes taking place.

Ali Parsa, CEO of digital healthcare service babylon, talked about four unstoppable trends (see box) that are driving the future frontier of healthcare – and which give us reasons to be optimistic about the future of healthcare.

Four unstoppable trends driving the future frontier of healthcare

1. Diagnostics are improving at double the rate of Moore’s Law


2. Information is already free and getting smarter


3. The ‘internet of everything’ is coming to the medical space


4. Intervention will make history

First among these is diagnostic costs for things like sequencing your entire genome. Not only have these plummeted in the last decade – and they look set to continue falling – but the very nature of diagnostics is moving towards something that is with us all the time. Devices such as those being developed by companies like Scanadu function as always-on scanners and send your health data seamlessly to your mobile so that you don’t even have to think about it.

Parsa said: “For the first time in human history we can do with your body what we are already doing with your car, which is continuously checking the engine before moving off and knowing ahead of time when something is going wrong with us.”

If diagnostic costs are rapidly falling, the cost of healthcare information – Parsa’s second trend – is already in most cases at zero. Almost anybody can access the sum of our entire medical knowledge on his computer at any time. The way this information can be searched is becoming smarter too and patients – from Bangalore to Boston – have access to a new generation of search engines and symptom checkers.

Mobile technology, already increasing at a formidable pace, is coming to connect the world through devices that are becoming more and more intelligent. From smart watches to fitness trackers and beyond, the ‘internet of everything’ of intelligent connected devices takes ‘mobile’ to a whole new level. When it comes to these and other wearable – even embeddable – sensors, the internet of everything has huge potential in health.

Within mainstream medicine too this is a time of huge advances. Name-checking biostructural engineering, electrical biology and new laser treatments, Parsa’s final trend is the incredible developments occurring within the world of clinical intervention.

He believes that these four unstoppable trends are coming together to create a prefect storm that will see the creative destruction of medicine within the next decade. The result will be a service that is utterly more accessible, effective and democratic.

“Everything that was solid in medicine is melting into thin air, and out of it is coming a future that none of us have even begun to imagine,” he told ThinkDigital.

Your personal healthcare access tool

The event’s speakers also included Nick Pestell, agency partner, global marketing solutions, Facebook, who talked about mobility as a behaviour not a technology. Put simply, it’s not about the device – it’s about acknowledging where customers are.

Why is this important in healthcare? Because your mobile is your personal healthcare access tool. It can be used to speak to your physician, check your vitals, track your activity (without really having to try), monitor and diary your eating habits – the opportunities are endless. In fact, you can imagine a time very soon when you will take a pill and your mobile device will record it, without you having to do anything.

Customers are driving much of the demand for mHealth technologies and applications. Mobile apps are helping to improve overall consumer engagement in healthcare by simplifying access to, and the flow of, information. This, in turn, is lowering healthcare costs through better decision-making, fewer in-person visits and greater adherence to treatment plans – and it also improves satisfaction with the service experience.

Insight into healthcare consumer behaviour and attitudes is critical information in an environment where healthcare is moving rapidly towards patient-centred care where individuals are active participants in managing in their own healthcare.

This avalanche of new applications, mobile devices, bio-sensors, and biological and imaging technologies, wearable and soon embeddable technology, is making it possible to virtually track any of the body’s bio-signals in real time, and if we wish, transmit them for continuous analysis.

For the first time in history, people will have the ‘check engine’ capability that, as Parsa says, we are accustomed to in our cars but never had for our bodies, leading to the possibility of real preventative medicine.

Pharma’s imperative to be more patient-centric

Healthcare has an economic imperative to become more patient-centric and ubiquitous – with delivery wherever the patient happens to be. Healthcare costs are becoming unsustainable, in large part due to an epidemic of chronic diseases fuelled by unhealthy lifestyles, ageing populations and increasing standards of living.

To bring costs under control and improve health outcomes, patients and other stakeholders in the healthcare system are now active in changing patient behaviour. To enable these behavioural changes, the epicentre of the healthcare system is shifting from the two places in which healthcare has traditionally been produced, delivered, consumed and paid for – the hospital and the doctor’s office – to a third place: the patient.

This shift is accelerating as changing incentives are transferring more financial risk to providers – who will need to change patient behaviours to manage this risk.

Patients have grown increasingly comfortable with empowering technologies (eg, smartphone apps, sensors, monitors and social media) and are taking a more active role in managing their health. They are demanding a different healthcare delivery model that will reach them wherever they happen to be.

Above all, the third place promises to change the game in health care by making costs more sustainable and providing new opportunities for growth and value creation. This is a pivotal time for healthcare brands to listen and then act by harnessing the vast power of digital media and technology.

Source PMLive http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_thought_leadership/the_balance_of_power_in_healthcare_617702

The balance of power in healthcare

£1 billion PCS tender issued

NHS England has issued a £1 billion tender for a single provider of primary care support services.

The tender, issued yesterday, indicates that the commissioning board is looking to hand over the services it is running to a provider willing to shake them up and drive down costs over the four years of the contract.

“The initial requirement is to take on the delivery of certain services currently provided by NHS England… and then drive through a transformation plan to enhance service quality and value for money,” it says.

Primary care support services encompass a wide range of ‘back office’ services for GPs, commissioners, and other primary practitioners, such as pharmacies and dental practices.

These include payment, finance and audit functions, HR and pension administration, support for administrative and clinical systems, patient registration, and the management of records, including their storage and transfer.

They also include support for primary care activities such as breast screening and cervical cancer screening, such as sending call and results letters.

NHS England inherited responsibility for many of these functions from primary care trusts, when they were abolished and replaced by clinical commissioning groups, as part of the Lansley re-organisation of the NHS.

The Health Service Journal reported in March that the commissioning board was looking to save £40m on an annual budget of around £100m by consolidating the services into 12 regional centres, amid concern from unions that this could lead to significant redundancies.

At the time, NHS England said it had been approached by Shared Services Connected, a joint venture between the Cabinet Office and Steria, to take over the services, and it was assessing this alongside other approaches.

The commissioning board now seems to have decided to push ahead with the outsourcing option. The tender says “various sites throughout England” will be affected, and that staff may need to be legally transferred to the new provider.

However, many PCS services are already provided by third parties, including NHS Shared Business Services, which says on its website that it is the “largest provider of primary care services to the NHS in England”.

Organisations wanting to express interest in the work must register with the eSourcing portal, and then complete pre-qualification questionnaires by 11 December.

The tender says NHS England is looking for three of four candidates to take forward to the next stage, and the final contract will be awarded on the basis of the “most economically advantageous tender”.

Other parts of the UK – Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey – are also covered by the procurement, in that their governments and IT services can choose to use it if they want to.

Source EHI http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/ehi/9755/£1-billion-pcs-tender-issued

£1 billion PCS tender issued

Online life sciences mapping tool launched

UK opens up database of 5,000 life science companies and sites

Details of 5,000 UK life science companies and sites have been put online in a new online mapping tool from the government.

Put together by the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) department, the site – which covers the pharma, biotech and med tech sectors – is intended to help the industry identify potential collaborators, suppliers and customers.

Companies can be searched for on the basis on sector, product group and location and the site has also plugged in some social media details of the companies featured in the database.

The information included in the UK Life Sciences website comes from the the Bioscience and Health Technology Database which is owned by the Office for Life Sciences within the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Meanwhile, UKTI told the BIA that it had sourced the turnover and employment information featured “from a third party on a commercial basis”, in addition to drawing from reported figures or estimated figures.

“No confidential information has been included in the website but there is the option for companies to opt-out if they prefer,” UKTI added.

Steve Bates, CEO of the BioIndustry Association, said: “The BIA has long advocated that enabling global partners to better see the strength and opportunity within companies in the UK life science ecosystem should be core to UKTI’s life science mission and we hope that this new initiative can play a key role.”

Source – PMLive http://www.pmlive.com/blogs/digital_intelligence/archive/2014/november/online_life_sciences_mapping_tool_launched

Online life sciences mapping tool launched

Outcomes data published on MyNHS

Performance information to support transparency and drive quality

Making our data transparent will help to drive up quality and create even better services.

Here you can see key data used by the NHS and local councils to monitor performance and shape the services you use. We’ll continually add to the information, listen to what you want, and work to make it as clear as possible.

We want your feedback on the contents and presentation of this site, whether you are a care professional, clinician, manager, carer or a member of the public.

Explore the data

• Hospitals
  
  View quality indicator information on NHS hospitals (private-sector providers not included)


• Social care
  
  See how local authorities perform on provision of adult social services


• Public health services
  
  Get data on how public health services delivered by hospitals and general practices perform within local authority areas


• Public health outcomes
  
  The NHS works with local authorities to protect and improve public health. See key public health outcomes in each local authority area


• Mental Health Hospitals
  
  View quality indicator information for mental health hospitals provided by NHS Trusts


• Consultants
  
  See consultant outcome data for a range of specialties


• Data coming soonGeneral Practice
  
  See a range of quality indicator information for general practice. This is currently available via the

Source MyNHS http://www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/performance/search

Outcomes data published on MyNHS

Life sciences minister: Go digital for NHS savings

Greater use of health technology could free funds for drug spending, says George Freeman

The NHS and pharma should look to digital technology to help the health service make the billions in savings needed over the coming years, according to UK life sciences minister George Freeman MP.

Speaking exclusively to PMLiVE shortly before the government’s digital health strategy was released, Freeman (pictured above) said that rather than investing large sums of money into the NHS each year, it is “more important” to utilise “the increasing pace of digitalisation and precision medicine” to help drive down costs.

Freeman, who spent years working in the pharma sector before becoming an MP, also backed health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s vision for both a paperless NHS, and one that uses new telehealth and telemedicine to reduce the strain on the NHS budget and even allow the government to pay for more drugs.

“You need only look to the oft cited example of Airedale in North Yorkshire where 24/7 home iPad and webcam telehealth for respiratory and cardiac patients have dramatic impacts on the reduction on GP appointments, and hospital admissions, whilst being hugely influential on clinical outcomes and saved substantial funds,” Freeman said.

“We only have to roll this out at scale across the system and we can start to deliver really significant efficiency gains which we can then re-invest in paying for more medicines.”

The next general election in the UK is in May next year, meaning Freeman may have a short run as the country’s first ever life sciences minister, but he said that should his Conservative Party gain power once again, he would continue to push throughout the next Parliament for a 21st century medicines landscape.

“This role as a minister for life sciences is every bit as much about data; diagnostics; devices; to drive efficiency in our health system, all so that we can generate the revenues to help us afford the modern precision medicine that we need.”

Mind the funding gap

His comments come as new reports from healthcare think-tank the King’s Fund and NHS England have come out saying that the NHS will face a £30bn funding gap by 2020.

The current coalition government, led by the Conservatives, have only given the NHS a 0.1% real terms increase each year since it came to power in May 2010, and have said it would commit the same level for the next Parliament, should it win the General Election.

But this will not be enough to plug the £30bn gap, and Freeman said he understands the problem. “No-one is suggesting that our healthcare expenditure will do anything but go up,” he says.

“But then we’ve got an opportunity to look at how we spend that budget to make sure that Britain is the best place to develop innovative new medicines.”

He says that he “doesn’t recognise” the £30bn funding gap, but says what this actually equates to is the need for a 3% productivity gain reduces that £30bn figure to £4bn.

“Can we achieve 3% productivity gains in a £120bn healthcare budget? The answer is of course ‘yes’, and I think given the size of the healthcare market, and the potential for modernising the way we deliver and the way we diagnose and the way we treat, it can be done.

“There are numerous examples where innovation strips out a huge amount of waste – so, for example, just moving paper prescriptions to digital prescriptions in the pharmacy sector, and in the way we make GP appointments.

“There are huge efficiencies from innovation, but what we need to look at is how we incentivise people in the system to adopt those innovations.”

Source PMLive http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/life_sciences_minister_go_digital_for_nhs_savings_617228

Life sciences minister: Go digital for NHS savings

UK unveils digital health strategy

Plans greater use of mobile technology and will track NHS ‘digital health maturity’

 

The UK is set to ramp up its use of digital health technology in a bid to improve health outcomes and the quality of patient care.

The strategy acknowledges that, despite various efforts to make progress in the area, “the consumer experience of care services remains much as it was before the mobile phone and the internet became commonplace”.

To change this the government’s plans include tracking the ‘digital health maturity’ of NHS services and improving multichannel access to NHS-accredited information and digital services and apps.

Health aps will be able to apply for a ‘kitemark’ starting from the end of next year – at which point approved apps and other digital services will be able to use the NHS brand and will be made accessible through the NHS Choices website.

But one of the most pressing objectives in the new Personal Health and Care 2020 framework is the looming deadline to give all citizens online access to their GP records, viewed through approved apps and digital platforms, by 2015.

This was originally to apply to all care records, but a two-stage process will now see access to all the remaining health records – including those held by hospitals, mental health and social care services – made available online by 2018.

To achieve this and its other aims the Department of Health (DoH) has established a National Information Board.

Chaired by NHS England’s National director for patients and information Tim Kelsey, the Board’s members include representatives from the MHRA, NICE, DoH and the Cabinet Office.

Kelsey said: “We must embrace modern technology to help us lead healthier lives, and if we want – to take more control when are ill. Our ambition is to make the NHS a digital pioneer for our patients and citizens.”

The government said that better use of technology will save the NHS money and life sciences minister George Freeman, speaking to PMLiVE, said greater use of telehealth, telemedicine and digitalisation could help government spend more on drugs.

Health data guardian

Alongside the Personal Health and Care 2020 framework the government has appointed Dame Fiona Caldicott as national data guardian for health and care.

The government said the move, and its associated legislative safeguards, marked “a significant step forward for safe and confidential information sharing between health and care organisations”.

It also pledged that no GP practice data would be extracted for the troubled care data programme until Dame Fiona advises the Secretary of State for Health she is satisfied with the proposals and safeguards.

Source PMLive http://www.pmlive.com/blogs/digital_intelligence/archive/2014/november/uk_unveils_digital_health_strategy

UK unveils digital health strategy

Major new report on digital technology

From:Department of Health, The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP and National Information Board

Health and social care leaders set out plans to transform people’s health and improve services using technology.

New plans to improve health outcomes and the quality of patient care through digital technology and innovation have been unveiled by national health and social care organisations today (13 November 2014).

Established by the Department of Health and chaired by NHS England’s National Director for Patients and Information, Tim Kelsey, the National Information Board has set out a vision for how technology should work harder and better for patients and citizens by 2020.

The vision commits to giving everybody online access to their GP records, viewed through approved apps and digital platforms, by 2015.

GP practices are well on their way to achieving this but national leaders want to offer people access to all of their health records – held by hospitals, community, mental health and social care services – by 2018.

In just 4 years, every citizen will be able to access their health records at the click of a button, detailing every visit to the GP and hospital, every prescription, test results, and adverse reactions and allergies to drugs. Patients will also be able to record their preferences and thoughts alongside official medical notes.

The alliance will establish a national digital standard for people at the end of life – building on the success of Co-ordinate My Care in London – so their care preferences are respected. The digitisation of the Personal Child Health Record (the red book) will offer new mothers personalised mobile care records for their child.

Secretary of State Jeremy Hunt said:

I want the NHS to be a world class showcase of what innovation can achieve. Today’s plan sets out how we can give patients 21st century, personalised healthcare.

Tim Kelsey, National Informatics Director, said:

New mothers will now be able to carry their red book around with them on their smart phone and tablet as the NHS moves towards offering digital Personal Child Health Records. This will put an end to worrying about leaving your child’s information at home when going for a review, vaccination, or emergency treatment.

We must embrace modern technology to help us lead healthier lives, and if we want – to take more control when are ill.

Our ambition is to make the NHS a digital pioneer for our patients and citizens.

The framework sets out how real time data will be available to paramedics, doctors and nurses, ensuring patients receive safe and effective at the point of care. All NHS funded care services are expected to have digital and interoperable systems that remove the limitations of paper records and slow bureaucratic systems by 2020.

The plans also include:

• NHS ‘kitemarks’ for trusted smartphone apps which will help patients access services and take more control of their health and wellbeing in 2015


• patients to be able to access their own GP record from spring 2015, and will have full access to care records by 2017 – patients will be able to record their own comments


• patients will only have to tell their story once – with consent, care records will be available electronically across the health system by 2018 for urgent care services and 2020 for all services – improving coordination of care, particularly for those with complex conditions


• introducing a digital ‘red book’ in 2016 – helping parents to manage their child’s early health records


• ensuring the NHS remains a leader in fight against disease and as a hub for genomics research


• developing innovative personalised medicines so treatment is right first time

Aside from the clear benefits for patient care and disease prevention, better use of technology will help create a more efficient NHS. The alliance’s report sets out examples where this is already happening. Technology will play a vital role in helping contribute to the £22 billion in efficiency savings needed to sustain the NHS, as set out in the NHS Five Year Forward View.

Members include the Health and Social Care Information Centre, Monitor, the CQC, the NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA), Public Health England, the Local Government Association and clinical leaders.

Source Dept of Health https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-new-report-on-digital-technology

Major new report on digital technology

European Commission forms €2.5bn big data partnership

Says mastering data will lead to better health outcomes

The European Commission is to start working with firms such as Nokia, SAP and Siemens as part of a €2.5bn public-private big data partnership.

The Commission says the partnership, which it expects to be up and running next year, will help focus public, private and academic research efforts in areas including health – where it could underpin new services in personalised medicine.

The European Commission’s vice president of the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes said “Data is the motor and foundation of the future economy. Every kind of organisation needs the building blocks to boost their performance, from farm to factory, from the lab to the shop floor.”

Big data has been gaining traction in healthcare for some time and recent years have seen IBM investigate healthcare applications for its supercomputer Watson – for which its partners include Belgium pharma firm UCB.

Another company looking to harness big data is GlaxoSmithKline, which has been with the UK’s Hartree Centre on ‘disease mapping’ by looking at a wide array of source data from journals and other records to identify correlations between genes, biological processes and known diseases.

The Commission said that mastering data will lead to, among other things, better health outcomes by helping doctors make the right choices more quickly, on the basis of information collected by other medical staff. It also expect further benefits for patients in terms of helping them be better informed about health care providers.

The public-private partnership will see the Commission put in more than €500m of investment over the five years to 2020, with its private partners expected to put in over €2bn.

As well as helping lay the foundations for the thriving data-driven economy of the future, the Commission says the partnership will also support ‘Innovation Spaces’ offering secure environments for experimenting with both private and open data. These will also act as business incubators and hubs for the development of skills and best practices.

Source PMLive http://www.pmlive.com/blogs/digital_intelligence/archive/2014/november/european_commission_forms_2.5bn_big_data_partnership

European Commission forms €2.5bn big data partnership

NHS wi-fi access 'up, but not by enough'

A rise in the number of healthcare staff who have wireless internet access is “good but not good enough”, according to the organiser of a survey on NHS wi-fi.

EHI Intelligence commissioned GP Marcus Baw to run the second edition of the nationwide survey on wi-fi use in the NHS, in conjunction with NHS Hackday, OpenGPSoC and HANDI.

Baw decided to run the first survey last year, after speaking to fellow GPs and healthcare professionals about the inconsistencies in access to wi-fi across the health system.

This year’s results show that 51% of survey respondents have access to wi-fi at their place of work, a significant increase from only 28% last year.

Just over 30% of the 500 respondents are able to connect to the wi-fi with their own device, while 23% said wi-fi access is only for work devices and they have not been given one.

Baw told EHI: “I think [the results] are in line with what I was expecting – we’ve got an improvement, and it is a good news story because things are moving in the right direction.”

However, Baw said the result is “good but not good enough”, with more effort needed to change attitudes about access to wi-fi.

“If you aren’t using it for your job, it’s easy to think [wi-fi access] is just a toy – something nice and fun – but GPs need to use a range of internet-based knowledge resources.

“If you want to search through a whole lot of information and find the best fit for something, you can only really do that on the internet.”

Baw said medical school students are now being given iPads to use for their project work and assignments, increasing the urgency of ensuring the next generation of clinicians can readily access the internet.

“When these doctors come out of medical school, they will be extremely fluent with accessing digital knowledge resources, and they won’t even know where to look for non-digital information.”

Baw said NHS organisations should also allow staff to access wi-fi using their own devices, rather than restricting them to work devices.

“If you don’t trust them to use the internet on their own device, why do you trust them with patients? If you’re not going to provide them access on the grounds that you don’t trust them, then you should report them to the GMC.”

Baw said he will keep the survey open to allow more people to respond. EHI Intelligence will issue a full report on the findings later this year.

Source EHI 12 November 2014   Sam Sachdeva http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/EHI/9743/nhs-wi-fi-access-’up-but-not-by-enough’

NHS wi-fi access 'up, but not by enough'

New rules and guidance issued by class and IMCA

August saw class society Bureau Veritas issue a new rule note covering the classification of diving support units. Rule Note NR609 sets out requirements for vessels used for manned diving operations whether they are fitted with an air system for shallow diving or a complex saturation system for deep diving. Pierre de Livois, senior vice president, marine & offshore at Bureau Veritas, said demand for diving support units is strong, with an estimated orderbook of more than 20 newbuild vessels….

Source OSJ http://www.rivieramm.com/article/new-rules-and-guidance-issued-by-class-and-imca-18177

New rules and guidance issued by class and IMCA

Google tests doctor consultations via video

Uses Google Hangouts to facilitate healthcare discussions

Google Hangouts allows people to have live video conversations online

Google is testing a new tool that allows people using its search engine to engage in a live video chat with a doctor to discuss potential health problems.

The tech giant confirmed last month that it is trialling a service whereby if a person searches for an illness or symptom a prompt pops up that allows the use to speak to a healthcare professional via its Google Hangouts service, rather than rely on search results.

The prompt first gained attention after it was noticed by web developer Jason Houle who posted a screenshot to Imgur. This was picked up by several tech blogs who covered the story.

Upon searching for ‘knee pain’ he received the following message on his screen next to a link to talk with a doctor: “Based on your search query, we think you are trying to understand a medical condition. Here you can find health care providers who you can visit with over video chat.”

It appears that Google may eventually try and turn this tool into a paid-for service as the prompt concludes: “All visit costs are covered by Google during this limited trial.”

Source PMLive http://www.pmlive.com/blogs/digital_intelligence/archive/2014/november/google_tests_doctor_consultations_via_video

Google tests doctor consultations via video

£35m held back from nursing tech fund 2

Over a third of the £100m that was due to be on offer through NHS England’s Nursing Technology Fund has been withheld, with the Department of Health suggesting a third round of funding may take place.

The DH says it must first “learn lessons from this initial investment” before providing further money.

NHS England launched the second round of the nursing tech fund earlier this week, with applications closing on 2 December.

It said it expects to hand out between £20m and £25m this financial year, and £10m-£15m in 2015-16.

However, the £35m allocated is only half of the £70m promised by NHS England for the second round, leaving a £35m gap in the £100m that was originally promised.

In a statement, a DH spokesperson told EHI: “The phased roll-out of the Nursing Technology Fund has already seen £65m invested in technology to improve care and free up more time for patients.

“Decisions about the third phase of the roll-out will be made once lessons have been learned from this initial investment, allowing the fund to build on other improvements in technology that the NHS is delivering.”

Announcing the opening of bidding for the second round, NHS England said it would have a strong focus on giving nurses access to information at the bedside and out in the community.

The second round prospectus says applications should be “aligned” with “digital capture of clinical data at the point of care” and with “mobile access to digital care records across the community.”

Other priorities for this round of funding include access to digital images, IT to enable nurses to locate equipment, workforce development, and specific forms of digital assessment, including wound assessment.

The Nursing Technology Fund was launched in autumn 2011 by Prime Minister David Cameron. It was taken over by NHS England in April the following year.

The first round of bidding secured 226 applications from 139 trusts, 74 of which were successful in winning £30m for 80 projects.

The focus of the first round was very much on laptops, digital pens, and similar technologies. The second round appears to be focussed on supporting nurses in access to information and in digitising nursing tasks.

The organisations that can apply to the fund include both trusts and local authorities, charities and voluntary and social enterprises.

NHS England has not only published a prospectus for this round, but more detailed guidance on getting value for money, and obtaining references for projects.

The original launch of the fund last year was also affected by government-level concerns about funding, with the launch postponed due to delays in getting sign-off from Treasury.

Source EHI http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/EHI/9738/£35m-held-back-from-nursing-tech-fund-2

6 November 2014   Sam Sachdeva

£35m held back from nursing tech fund 2

UK doctors have 'ethical duty' to prevent waste

Doctors have an ethical duty to prevent waste in the NHS, argues a report by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.

Its authors point to potential savings of nearly £2bn. Examples include better use of medication, tests, hospital beds and operating theatres.

The British Medical Association said doctors were ideally placed to identify savings, but patients must come first.

The health secretary said he was determined to tackle avoidable waste in healthcare.

Unnecessary scans

The report is based on the premise that one doctor’s waste is another patient’s delay, and may even mean treatment is withheld.

The authors argue it is better to develop a culture of finding the best way to do something, and then do it right across the health service.

We need to be innovative to tackle the huge financial challenges we are facing”

Sir Bruce Keogh NHS England Medical Director

There are 16 examples of changes to clinical practice which have saved money and benefited patients.

They include medication reviews to prevent adverse drug reactions, which account for 6% of all hospital admissions. The report says eradicating this problem would save £466m.

It also suggests more than £200m could be saved by stopping unnecessary scans.

Other recommendations include:

• Prescribing lower-cost statins, which could save £85m


• Reducing unnecessary face-to-face contact between patients and healthcare professionals by using technology such as e-mail and Skype


• Cutting the number of X-rays for lumbar spine or knee problems, which could save £221m


• More frequent consultant ward visits to ensure patients can be discharged promptly

The report does not provide a definitive total of potential savings, but indicates what a change in culture – where doctors resolve to eradicate waste – could potentially deliver.

Consultant Jeremy Lavy explains how his team reduced the number of tools they needed in surgery

Savings in surgery

Surgeons at the Royal Throat Nose and Ear Hospital in London have reduced the number of instruments required for cochlear implant operations, from 96 to 28.

This has saved money on cleaning and wear and tear. And it has reduced the risk of cancellations or costly delays caused by incomplete equipment.

A surgeon at the hospital, Jeremy Lavey, said doctors were well-placed to identify savings.

“We have a responsibility because we’re in the best position to say I can use this one, I don’t need to use that.

“A manager can’t make that decision whereas we are ideally positioned and we have a responsibility to make sure we do that properly,” he said.

Reviewing medications to prevent adverse drug reactions would save £466m, the report said

Professor Terence Stephenson, chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, said: “Maintaining NHS services in the future depends on doctors ensuring the best use of resources today.

“Quality of care is a doctor’s prime concern. But delivering quality care and promoting value are really two sides of the same coin,” he said.

‘Improve efficiency’

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live, co-leader of the National Health Action Party Clive Peedell welcomed some of the recommendations, but noted that “a lot of this is already being done” and warned that efficiency savings had already “created real problems”.

Areas of potential savings

Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, the NHS England Medical Director, welcomed the report.

“We need to be innovative to tackle the huge financial challenges we are facing, but there are also some more everyday changes that we can make to improve efficiency. This report neatly embodies some practical ideas for more efficient practice,” he said.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “We have launched a safety campaign aiming to halve avoidable harm and recently published a report showing the costs of unsafe care may be as high as £2.5 billion a year.

“Today’s report builds on this and underlines the potential for savings.”

Dr Ian Wilson from the British Medical Association said doctors had already played a leading role in helping to find more efficient ways of delivering patient care.

He added a note of caution: “While staff and management should work closely to maximize the use of the NHS’s very limited resources, a doctor’s primary duty is to their patient, and it is vitally important that decisions around patient care are around clinical value.”

By Adam Brimelow Health Correspondent, BBC News

Source BBC News/Health http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29920025

UK doctors have 'ethical duty' to prevent waste

Source: Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
Improved liaison with psychiatric services	£568m
Cost of bed days caused by adverse drug reactions	£466m
Wasted medicines	£300m
Reducing radiology (x-ray) referrals	£221m
Access to specialist care	£104m
Prescribing lower cost statins	£85m
Using telehealth clinics	£16m
Total potential savings	£1.76bn

GP funding 'putting patients at risk' in Scotland

The RCGP said its research suggested one in four Scots cannot get an appointment with their GP within a week

The Scottish government’s failure to adequately fund GPs is putting patients at risk, according to the organisation that represents general practitioners.

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) warned of “dangerous consequences for patients in the light of continued underfunding”.

A study by the body suggested one in four Scots cannot get an appointment with their GP within a week.

The Scottish government said GP funding in Scotland was at record levels.

But the RCGP said the Draft Budget for next year showed a real-terms funding drop of 2.2% for GPs.

It also claimed long waiting times for appointments, short consultations and weakening relationships between doctors and patients were contributing to a “crisis in general practice”.

Later appointment

The RCGP said it had based its conclusions on an analysis of figures from the Scottish government’s Health and Experience Survey 2013/14 and a ComRes poll carried out earlier this year.

The poll suggested that a majority of people believe there are too few GPs and would like to see funds moved from other parts of the health service to GPs.

One in four of those surveyed said they were unable to obtain an appointment with their GP within a week and, when this happened, 11% of people said they would neither take the later appointment nor seek help elsewhere.

RCGP said this raised concerns about untreated conditions.

The professional body also highlighted figures in the government’s Health and Experience Survey which showed that on more than 3.3 million occasions, patients were unable to get to see either a doctor or a nurse until the third working day.

The figure represented almost one in every seven times a request was made.

And the survey found that on 1.6 million occasions, patients did not feel they had enough time with their GP – an increase of 8.25% since 2011/12.

Dr John Gillies, chairman of RCGP Scotland, said it was “incumbent on the government to act” in order to safeguard patient safety.

‘Substantially higher’

He added: “Further cuts to the resources GPs have with which to care for patients can only exacerbate the problem.

“A real-terms drop in funding share of 2.2%, as outlined in the Draft Budget 2015/16, can only deepen the current, very real crisis.

“This drop stands directly against the 71% of Scots who would like to see funding move from other parts of the health service to general practice.

“General practice requires 11% of the NHS spend to adequately look after our patients. If the situation is not rectified, the consequences for the NHS in Scotland and for patients could be even more severe.”

The RCGP said a petition with thousands of signatures calling for the situation to be a addressed situation would be handed to the first minister next week.

Health secretary Alex Neil said GP funding was at a record level in Scotland “despite cuts in our overall budget from Westminster”.

He said: “The number of GPs in Scotland has increased by 5.7% under this government and the number of GPs per head of population is substantially higher in Scotland than England.

“This year our £8.2m increase in funding for the GP contract was double that recommended by the GPs’ pay body, and was warmly welcomed by the BMA.”

Mr Neil added: “Last year, 87% of patients rated their overall experience of care by the GP surgery as excellent or good.

“While this is a strong record, we are continuing to improve access and the latest GP contract substantially cuts bureaucracy to allow GPs more time with patients.

“It also requires every single GP surgery in Scotland to review their access arrangements to ensure patients could get prompt access to appointments.”

Source BBC News/Health http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-29864737

GP funding 'putting patients at risk' in Scotland