Tammy Lovell

The validation of the Saudia Arabian Mouwasat hospitals demonstrates the adoption and maturity of electronic medical record functions. 

Nuffield Trust report highlights discrepancies in ethnicity coding.

Patients in England have until 23 June to opt out. 

Digital health experts from the UK will join the debate on how healthcare can evolve beyond COVID.

A health app that allows parents to access NHS paediatricians and midwives has come under fire for operating without a Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration. The digital service, called Juno, became available to download for free across the UK in December last year following trials by 1,000 parents during its beta phase. Juno was launched as a paid service in March, but according to a report in HSJ [paywall], the app was not registered by the CQC until May.              A spokesperson for Juno Health told Healthcare IT News that the usual 10-12 week registration approval process had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it had begun providing consultation services while awaiting approval. They added that the company had been in contact with CQC during the registration process.  WHY IT MATTERS  With more than 374,000 health and fitness apps available via Google Play and Apple, consumers face a dizzying choice when choosing digital solutions. This has led to debate about whether health apps are being adequately regulated.  THE LARGER CONTEXT  Earlier this year NHSX launched the digital technology assessment criteria (DTAC), in a bid to provide confidence that digital health tools meet NHS standards. Meanwhile, a recent study by the Organisation for Review of Care and Health Applications (ORCHA) found that only 32% of 676 mental health apps tested met the organisation’s minimum quality threshold.  ON THE RECORD A Juno spokesperson said: “The Juno Health app has received CQC approval and we were in contact with the CQC throughout the process of building and launching our free research pilot. They’ve been brilliant every step of the way, but finalising our registration was understandably delayed due to the pandemic. During this time, we’ve kept them fully informed on our progress.  “We could not take the safety of our patients and the quality of the services we provide through our app more seriously. The app is staffed exclusively by NHS consultants, senior registrars and senior midwives. We also have a designated risk management and safeguarding officer, data protection officer, and a clinical lead. We are absolutely stringent about patient safety and data protection; Juno meets NICE digital guidelines, is registered with the ICO, has ISO 27001 certified data centre accreditation, and all clinicians are held to NHS standards of care and accreditation.”  A CQC spokesperson said: “If a provider wishes to carry out ‘Regulated Activities’ (RA) then they have a responsibility to register with CQC before the point where their actions would constitute RA. “We have been in dialogue with the provider as is usual and provided advice concerning the progress of their application during the process — including reminding them of their legal responsibilities around registration. “We are aware of this particular provider and have recently approved an application to register relating to this service on 18 May 2021. Separate to the registration process, any evidence of activities being carried out by any organisation without registration would be considered following our usual processes.”

Speakers from The Netherlands will be among healthcare leaders sharing their expertise at the upcoming HIMSS21 European health conference.

The network of surveillance hubs will identify and track new COVID variants and emerging diseases.

HIMSS research found that digital transformation has the potential to either decrease or increase healthcare workers’ stress levels, according to how it is implemented.

Ireland’s health service IT system has been shut down as a precautionary measure, following a cyber attack today. The Health Service Executive (HSE) believes the attack is by international criminals attempting to extort money, although no demand has yet been received. HSE confirmed there had been “a significant ransomware attack on the HSE IT systems” and it had closed down systems “to protect them from this attack and to allow us fully assess the situation with our own security partners.” Irish health minister Stephen Donnelly said the attack was having “a severe impact” on health and social care services, but emergency services and the National Ambulance Service were still in operation. WHY IT MATTERS  Ransomware is a malicious software that encrypts files on a computer system. The attack has caused health services to temporarily return to paper-based systems, leading to delays and cancellations to patient services.  Hospitals affected include the Rotunda Maternity Hospital and the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin, which have both reported significant disruption to services, as they are unable to access electronic records. The UL Hospitals group warned of long delays for patients. In a statement on Twitter it said it was “largely operating manual back-up systems” and delays would continue “until such time as patient information, diagnostic reporting and other affected IT systems are secure and operational.” COVID-19 vaccinations and tests will continue, but the registration portal for vaccinations and testing referrals system have bene shut down. THE LARGER CONTEXT  The attack comes four years after the WannaCry virus attack, which affected more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries worldwide. It caused disruption to around 81 NHS trusts and more than 600 primary care organisations in England. More recently, the outsourcing firm behind NHS Test and Trace, Serco confirmed that parts of its infrastructure in mainland Europe had experienced a double extortion ransomware attack from cybercriminals. In February, French insurance company Mutuelle Nationale des Hospitaliers (MNH) suffered a ransomware attack that disrupted the company's healthcare operations.  Last year, the Vastaamo therapy centre in Finland was targeted by who obtained medical records from patient therapy sessions.   Cybersecurity expert, Saif Abed, founding partner of AbedGraham, told Healthcare IT News the threat cyber-attacks pose during mass vaccination programmes.      ON THE RECORD   The EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) said: “We firmly condemn this malicious behaviour in the midst of a health crisis. We are following the ongoing situation and possible developments closely with the authorities and at EU level with the CSIRTs Network. “The health sector is regarded as a vulnerable sector to cyber incidents and crises. In the ENISA Threat Landscape report, it was found that more than 66% of healthcare organisations experienced a ransomware attack in 2019. “In 2019, 45% of attacked organisations paid the ransom. The 45% of organisations that were attacked and paid the ransom, half still lost their data. “In relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals/labs/healthcare organisations have been prime targets for cybercrime related attacks. For example, hospitals in France and Czechia have been targeted.” Brian Honan CEO of Dublin-based cybersecurity firm, BH Consulting, said: “Ransomware has over the past few years has rapidly become a scourge that has impacted organisations all over the globe. Criminals have also deliberately targeted healthcare organisations during the pandemic as they are so critical in the fight against COVID19. High profile attacks like this, and indeed the attack against Colonial Pipeline, will hopefully serve as a wakeup call to governments that cybercrime is a serious threat to our society and way of live and needs to be dealt with accordingly.” Robert Golloday, an EMEA and APAC director at cybersecurity firm, Illusive, said: "This attack against HSE is the latest confirmation of how the professional-scale hack-for-ransom threat is spreading rapidly. Among other institutions, these groups are targeting hospitals and other healthcare providers, most likely because of the value of the personal information their servers hold.” George Daglas, chief operations officer at computer security service, Obrela Security Industries, said: "Ransomware is a particularly vicious threat because it is a double-extortion. Attackers are able to leak an organisations data, which also holds the organisation at ransom, putting the organisations and their customers, or in this case patients, in a very dangerous position.” The story was updated at 17.15 BST  

The Queen's Speech to officially reopen Parliament promised legislation to empower the NHS to innovate and embrace technology. In the speech to the House of Lords yesterday, she delivered the government’s plans for a pandemic recovery that would beat COVID-19 and back the NHS. “My ministers will bring forward legislation to empower the NHS to innovate and embrace technology. Patients will receive more tailored and preventative care, closer to home,” Her Majesty said. A background briefing on the speech to Parliament the Queen said the Health and Care Bill will “lay new foundations for a more integrated and efficient health and care system”, enabling staff to focus on delivering the best possible treatment and care for their patients and giving the NHS and local authorities tools to “level up health and care across England”. However, independent health think tanks the Health Foundation, the Kings Fund and Nuffield Trust have criticised the government plans for not addressing social care reform. WHY IT MATTERS The Health and Social Care Bill, which builds on the NHS Long Term Plan, is intended to support recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by stripping away unnecessary legislative bureaucracy, empowering local leaders and services and tackling health inequalities THE LARGER CONTEXT In February, health secretary Matt Hancock set out plans to reform the NHS and deliver a more joined up health and care system. A government white paper outlined proposals to make integrated care systems (ICSs) the default across England, bust bureaucracy”, and better support social care, public health and improve the way data is collected and shared. ON THE RECORD Dr Jennifer Dixon, chief executive of the Health Foundation, said: “The Health and Care Bill may help improve collaboration between services but it will not fix the most urgent issues facing the service, with critical workforce shortages and a huge backlog of unmet need for care. Without significant investment in the workforce, infrastructure and technology, the backlog won’t be addressed quickly and the public will experience avoidable long waits for care. Richard Murray, chief executive of The King’s Fund, said: “The Health and Care Bill signals a welcome step towards delivering integrated care centred around the needs of patients. However, once the Bill is laid before parliament, we will be examining the details closely, particularly new powers for ministers to take control of national decisions about the NHS and intervene in decisions about changes to local services.” Nuffield Trust deputy director of policy, Natasha Curry said: "The NHS Bill included today has the potential to bring together health and social care services more closely - the pandemic has shown why that is important. But the NHS has been through many restructures before. The government should be very cautious about a Whitehall power grab from the NHS and seeing this as an answer to the challenges ahead.”