GHX LAUNCHES DIGITAL PROCURE PLATFORM

Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX) has announced the launch of its GHX Procure platform to healthcare providers in the UK.

GHX Procure is a cloud-based requisition and inventory management solution which gives Integrated Care Systems, hospitals and trusts real-time visibility of their inventory. It also allows for automated purchasing of supplies and medical equipment.

GHX Procure has been designed to help free up healthcare professionals from manual supply chain management tasks and allow them to focus on their frontline roles. 

NHSX DIGITAL DIRECTOR JOINS FREUDS

Former NHSX digital director and chief medical strategy officer for Numan, professor Sam Shah has been appointed as senior advisor for Freuds Health & Behaviour Change Unit.

The move is part of the agency's plans to exploit the role technology plays in healthcare, particularly during the pandemic.

Professor Shah will join former Public Health England marketing chief Sheila Mitchell, who was hired by Freuds earlier this year.

Commenting on his appointment, Shah said: “Behaviour change, improving access to services and helping people get the best outcomes is more important now than ever before, with a crossover of technology, consumer-facing services and health.”

CSAM HEALTH WINS NATIONAL AGREEMENT FOR DANISH E-HEALTH BLOOD BANK

Nordic eHealth solution company, CSAM Health Group AS (CSAM), has signed a contract with the five regions within the Danish health authority for CSAM’s Prosang blood, cell, and tissue management system for blood banks.

In an agreement between CSAM and all five health regions, the new contract will translate to approximately NOK 75-100 million NOK over the next six years and will be implemented in all blood banks in the country.

“We are pleased to enter this new agreement with CSAM Health Group, that essentially enables the Danish health regions to provide a nationwide, consolidated solution for blood bank management services,” says Kim Brixen, Chairman of the Steering Group.

“All current CSAM Prosang installations in Denmark, in addition to the new installation in the Copenhagen region will be migrated into a national service supporting data quality, security, information sharing, workflow support and integrations.”

SOUTH TYNESIDE AND SUNDERLAND FT ACHIEVE GDE FIRST

South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS FT (STSFT) in the UK, has achieved another digital first for the North East as Sunderland Royal Hospital becomes the first in the NHS to complete all requirements of the national Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) programme. 

The GDE accreditation is a hallmark of excellence for NHS organisations who are using outstanding digital technologies to improve patient care. STSFT is the first organisation in the NHS to achieve all requirements of the programme. 

Director of Information Management and Technology, Andy Hart, received the Trust’s GDE accreditation from NHSX at a virtual ceremony earlier this week.

Last year, Sunderland Royal Hospital became the first hospital in the north of England to attain Stage 7 of EMRAM, the highest possible global digital quality standard by HIMSS.

LANCASHIRE AND SOUTH CUMBRIA HEALTH AND CARE PARTNERSHIP CONTRACT BETTER

Better Platform has won a contract to support Lancashire and South Cumbria Health and Care Partnership deliver a regional medicines record via the Better openEHR platform and Better Meds software.

The partnership will aim to integrate services across the region, adopting a centrally managed system that will provide a shared medicines record when a patient is transferred across the region. 

Andrew Thompson, acting digital health lead and CTO – Lancashire and South Cumbria Health & Care Partnership, said: “Like many developing integrated care systems, we have a range of disparate data sets all over the region, embedded in different systems. This makes it very hard for effective sharing of information and has the potential for issues if a patient is transferred across care settings. We know that adopting a more unified approach, utilizing open data standards, will mean our patients will have a better experience and safer, more effective care. This approach fundamentally aligns with the direction of travel detailed in the new NHSE data strategy – Data saves lives.”

VIRA HEALTH RAISES SEED FUND FOR MENOPAUSE HEALTH TECH

Vira Health, a digital health company focused on women's health, has raised £1.5 million in seed funding from LocalGlobe, MMC Ventures, and angel investors including Megumi Ikeda, Managing Director, Hearst Ventures, Andrea Zitna of Elvie, former Spotify executive Sofia Bendz, founder of GoCardless Matt Robinson, and Simon Lambert, former CTO, MOO.com, and Treatwell. 

Andrea Berchowitz, co-founder, Vira Health, said: “At Vira, our vision is to fundamentally transform long term health and wellbeing for women. We believe better menopause care is the first step. Female health issues have historically been under-researched and under-invested, and this remains the case today. There is an opportunity to use technology to redress this balance by improving the collection and use of female data in healthcare. This first round of seed funding is a step towards realising our vision.”

Dr Rebecca Love, co-founder, Vira Health, said: “Menopause is a time point in a woman’s life where you can fundamentally change the trajectory of her lifelong health. It seems outrageous that we have not been focusing on this before. Stella is about getting women the relief and support they need for immediate symptoms like sleep issues, incontinence, mood swings, hot flushes and many others as well as setting them up for the best brain, bone and heart health in later life."