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 🫁 EDX Medical has joined forces with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s intensive care unit to enhance the development of its pneumonia testing. The test can identify the DNA or RNA of the microbes that cause lung infection in critically ill patients, and is read using digital technology to deliver results in 60 seconds. The collaboration, which also involves the University of Cambridge, the UK Health Security Agency and Cambridge Enterprise, aims to make the test available this year. 🖥️ Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s National Pathology Imaging Co-operative team has worked with Jusha to develop a digital pathology imaging screen that can increase diagnostic capabilities. Leeds has secured 40 of the new screens, which allow clinicians to view and interact with images, improving the speed of diagnosis. 📬 Wellola Ltd has partnered with Publisure to give patients a choice in how they receive communication about their care – whether digitally, by post or both. According to a press release the move aims to help boost NHS digital engagement, reduce printing and postage costs for trusts and cut their carbon footprint. 🤰 Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust has teamed up with Health Net Connections LTD to introduce technology to help improve its foetal wellbeing reporting. The trust went live with ViewPoint6 ultrasound reporting software in May 2025, moving the trust from paper-based reporting to digital reporting. ⚖️ The Open Data Institute has launched its new European Data and AI Policy Manifesto to support EU policymakers ahead of the Commission’s review of the digital acquis and the phased rollout of the EU AI Act. ❓Did you know? Research from Pocketalk, published on 11 August 2025, reveals that language barriers are having a widespread impact on emergency services across the UK. The findings indicate these communication gaps are affecting not only response times and decision-making but also the overall safety and quality of care delivered. According to a survey of 500 UK emergency workers, almost one in five (17%) face language barriers on a daily basis, with an additional 26% encountering the problem most weeks. Nearly a third (31%) of those surveyed said a language barrier had directly impacted the safety or quality of care they were able to provide. The issue is reported to be particularly acute in certain regions, with emergency responders in Northern Ireland (33.33%), the West Midlands (27.27%), London (27.27%), and Yorkshire (23.91%) reporting the highest rates of daily encounters with language barriers. 📖 What we’re reading A blog from the Health Foundation, published on 5 August 2025, suggests that the government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan may be more transformative for the NHS than the “vision-orientated but detail-light” 10 year health plan. The post, authored by Alex Lawrence, improvement fellow, and Tim Horton, associate director of the foundation highlights that while the 10 year plan focused on a broad vision, the Life Sciences Sector Plan is more practical and delivery-focused with an explicit connection between industrial strategy and health policy. Its actionable commitments include a new regulatory framework for AI, increased capacity for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and better coordination with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Each policy commitment is tied to specific metrics for tracking progress and has a named senior officer responsible for its delivery. The authors argue that this level of detail and emphasis on accountability could address the long-standing challenges that have hindered the NHS’s ability to adopt and scale innovation. 🚨Upcoming events