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

🧠 Health tech company Medtronic has received CE mark approval for its BrainSense Adaptive Deep Brain stimulation (aDBS) and BrainSense Electrode Identifier technology. The kit delivers deep brain stimulation therapy to people with Parkinson’s disease, and works by transmitting electric signals to the brain to disrupt unwanted movements. BrainSense aDBS can be configured to deliver therapy tailored to individual patients.

🏡 People aged 50 and 52 will automatically be sent home testing kits for bowel cancer as the NHS steps up its screening programme. Some 850,000 people in England are now eligible for the screening kits, which are sent every two years. The NHS is also calling on more people to enrol in the initiative, with figures showing that uptake is lower in people aged 54–59.

🏆 Trainee surgeon Amar Rajgor has been recognised for his research into using AI to improve throat cancer outcomes. Rajgor, a specialist at the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and an NIHR doctoral fellow, scooped both the Thought Leader award and Digital and Technology Award at the Northern NPH Ethnic Minority Powerlist 2024.

⛅ Google Cloud has announced a five-year expansion to its partnership with pharmaceuticals group, Servier, to accelerate its digital transformation and bolster AI use in drug discovery. The partnership will also see Servier deploy AI tools for its employees based on Google’s Gemini, helping to boost efficiency across the board – from R&D to production and distribution.

💊 Electronic prescribing and medicines administration (EPMA) has been introduced at every inpatient ward at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. The rollout began in 2024 with the trust’s 17 mental health inpatient wards. EPMA has now been deployed across all four inpatient wards in Cambridge, Peterborough, Wisbech and Ely.

❓Did you know?

NHS staff have delivered almost 240,000 more vaccinations so far this winter compared to the same period last year. 

NHS figures published 14 January show a total of 17.9m flu vaccinations were delivered by NHS staff between 1 September 2024 and 5 January 2025, compared to 17.7m between 1 August 2023 and 7 January 2024.

In recent weeks, flu vaccinations are up 27% compared to last year with an extra 85,000 jabs delivered in the last three weeks.

🎧 What we’re listening to

In the latest episode of the Health on the Line podcast, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of NHS Confederation is joined by Sarah Woolnough, chief executive at The King’s Fund, and Harry Quilter-Pinner, executive director at the IPPR, to discuss what the NHS should prioritise in the forthcoming 10 year health plan.

They explore the importance of access to care, the need for a focus on prevention and the potential for a mission-driven government to reshape health policy. The discussion highlights the barriers to effective health investment and the necessity for innovative approaches to improve health outcomes and financial sustainability.

🚨 Upcoming events

30 January, virtual event – NHS Digital Transformation 2025