Few days left to apply for the DigitalHealth.London Launchpad programme. Innovators have until 26 August to submit their applications for a three-month programme of support announced at the beginning of this month by DigitalHealth.London, dubbed the Launchpad.

The initiative will initially focus on helping between five to eight companies based in the capital develop and bring to market products and processes aiming to ease pressures on the health service. Support will be provided in the form of workshops and advice from consultants in the space, with an event organised in March next year where solutions will presented and launched.

Yinka Makinde, programme director at DigitalHealth.London, told MobiHealthNews in a statement:

“DigitalHealth.London is delighted to announce this new programme, adding to our suite of services for companies targeting the NHS.

“The Launchpad will provide much-needed support to help companies develop and launch new digital health products, which we hope will go on to benefit staff and patients across London. The programme will provide one-to-one, bespoke support, ensuring that companies receive exactly what they need to get their product off the ground.”

More information can be found here.

National push to adopt digital systems helping to identify patients with sepsis sooner. The NHS in England revealed this week plans for the rollout of “alert and action” technology that would identify and alert doctors to conditions that are a warning sign of sepsis, following results at three hospitals across the country.

According to NHS England, the feature has helped save 64 lives at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the past year. Meanwhile, at the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, deaths from septic shock mortality in under 45-year-olds are said to have decreased from six in ten to less than one in ten.

In Reading, at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, the number of patients screened for sepsis during admission went up to nine in 10, from two in 10 previously, helping medics spot warning signs sooner.

Celia Ingham Clark, NHS England and NHS Improvement medical director for clinical effectiveness, said: “Sepsis is an extremely serious condition, but as part of the NHS Long Term Plan we have made huge improvements in spotting and treating it quickly, with more than nine in 10 people getting the checks they need.

“Now, with the help of innovative digital tools, the NHS is saving more lives by getting even better at identifying and treating sepsis. The systems at Liverpool, Cambridge and Berkshire are life-saving and as more hospitals adopt digital tools, thousands more families will be spared the harm and heartbreak of sepsis.”

NHSX updates. According to two blog posts shared this week, NHSX, the health service's new unit for digital technology, has been working with Public Health England, NHS England, NHS Digital and the Department for Health and Social Care to identify and tackle challenges around the delivery of national services, starting with cervical screening.

“We’re mapping the service end to end - starting with how people are selected for a screening invitation, through to how a user moves into cancer care. This is a complex service, it has various online and offline stages delivered by different parts of the NHS and private organisations. We’re making sure we map and understand the background processes,” wrote NHSX product manager Hayley Sorrell.

Mental health has also been unveiled as one of the unit’s initial areas of focus, with a discovery process looking at children and young people’s access to treatment from providers already started.

“Our discovery is exploring the opportunities to support children and young people in preparation for their first appointment or upcoming treatment,” wrote NHSX user researcher Sophie Rankin.

Earlier this month, MobiHealthNews reported that NHSX would partner with the Accelerated Access Collaborative to set up a national AI lab, supported by a £250m fund.

Workforce software companies unveil partnership. London-based Patchwork revealed this week that its specialist temporary staffing technology would now integrate with the HealthMedics rostering solution from Allocate Software. The aim is to support healthcare providers when staffing wards and decreasing agency spend.   

“By connecting NHS organisations directly with a growing pool of healthcare workers, we’re reducing the reliance on locum agencies and helping organisations achieve three key objectives – save money, free up time and improve patient safety,” said in a statement Anas Nader, chief executive of Patchwork.

The company was created in 2016 as a public-private partnership with Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and its technology has since been deployed across more than 10 trusts in the NHS.

Event news. NHSX chief executive Matthew Gould and health minister Nicola Blackwood will be speaking at the HETT – Healthcare Excellence through Technology – show taking place in London on 1-2 October at the ExCel centre.

Tara Donnelly, NHSX chief digital officer, Dame Fiona Caldicott, national data guardian for health and care, and Sarah Wilkinson, CEO of NHS Digital, will also be presenting, while HIMSS, owner of MobiHealthNews, has been unveiled as the official knowledge partner.

A digital maturity forum will provide updates on the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) and the Continuity of Care Maturity Model (CCMM). Other highlights include ORCHA hosting an App Zone that will see developers with the highest ranked app scores showcase their solutions.

Further details are available here.