#230- Healthtech’s ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card
The one-minute healthtech roundup, brought to you by SomX.
Hi friends,
This week: new trials of AI for breast cancer diagnosis, Teladoc is always looking for the win, and a new framework for digital literacy in medical education
Your friends all listen to podcasts. Be interesting at your next dinner party by listening to the Healthtech Pigeon podcast ➡️ Amy and Daisy from SomX break down the best stories from this week’s newsletter. Available now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
News Bites 🥪
♥️ After raising £5M, PocDoc partners with Well Pharmacy to make 10-minute heart test kits accessible – As Valentine's Day looms large on the horizon, PocDoc is playing Cupid with our cardiovascular health. The Cambridge-based digital diagnostics company has joined forces with Well Pharmacy, the UK's second-largest chain, to make heart screening more accessible.
🧠 Guidance launched to ensure the safety of digital mental health tech – Healthtech innovators have been complaining for years that compliance with clinical safety regulation isn’t always as straightforward as it could be. With the publication of this new guidance, the MHRA has announced a ‘pragmatic balance’ of enabling vs regulating technologies. If half complain it’s too enabling and half complain it’s too regulated, it’s probably about right.
🦀 UK launches AI trial to tackle breast cancer – A major new trial aimed at improving early breast cancer diagnosis has been announced by the Department of Health and Social Care, and will see 700,000 women tested by radiology teams using the latest AI. Two questions: a) at a time when the UK is lagging behind other countries, could this improve cancer survival rates? And b) Does anyone have any details on what tech is actually being used here?
🤑 Teladoc to buy home testing company Catapult for $65 million – Pigeon can’t help but be in awe at the ‘partner, build and buy’ strategy we’ve seen pursued by care giants Teladoc Health over the past few years. Not a month seems to go by when the self-management leviathan isn’t scaling its offering in one form or another. Case in point: the whopping $65 million in cash dropped on Catapult Health, which will make it simple for the latter's clinicians to advance their patients into an appropriate Teladoc programme when the time is right.
🎓 Imperial experts co-author new global framework for digital health education – Pigeon is aware medical students form a decent segment of our audience, so we’re throwing you one for a change. Enter DECODE: a new framework designed to guide medical schools in preparing future doctors for digital health transformation. Think EPRs, digital literacy, and health information systems. In summary: less doctor-ing, more data-ing.
📈 L&G Group Protection reports 79% year on year increase in digital health service usage – More evidence (if we needed it) that health and work are becoming inextricably linked, as L&G celebrates positive results from the use of its apps when it comes to reducing missed work, returning back to work and generally improving health. Whatever else, it's data like this that you need in your pocket if you’re a healthtech even considering employer partnerships.
🎤 The role of AI in the future of women's health – It's not everyday Pigeon features a speech, but in a week in which Government abandoned targets around women’s health, we felt this deserved your attention. We’ll let a few announcements about using AI to solve [your problem here] go, but it's starting to feel like a get-out-of-jail-free card when you’re championing AI in an area where just dropped all your other commitments.
👀 NHSE tech boss decries ‘serious’ impact of job cuts plan – Finally, any hope of a rousing parting message from the boss of NHS England’s central tech team was extinguished this week, as John Quinn warned staff in a memo that cuts threatened to blunt the impact of their work, reminded them that ‘life is short’, and signed off with a song from everyone’s favourite breezy, sunshine and good-times party band…Radiohead…? Who knows…maybe AI can help?
What to listen to 🔊
Events 📅
Radiology AI Summit
⏰ February 11 -13
📍London
Digital Health and Care Scotland 2024
⏰ February 21 - 22
📍Edinburgh
HSJ Digital Transformation Summit
🕣 Feb 6-7
📍 Birmingham
HETT Show North
🕣 Feb 26
📍 Manchester
Innovation and Technology Conference and Exhibition 2024
🕣 Feb 27
📍 The Royal Society of Medicine, London
AIMday HealthTech
🕣 Feb 29
📍 📍The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
Visit the SomX events page or subscribe to SomX’s events roundup to see all of the best upcoming healthtech, biotech and healthcare events.
Opportunities 🕵️♀️
🤖AI & Health Tech Adviser, OM:BODi — Are you an AI and health tech expert passionate about mental health and well-being? This is a great role for anyone interested in contributing to meaningful projects by providing technical and strategic support.
📈 Business Development Manager (Women’s Health),Oshun Labs – Are you a women’s health advocate? This is a great opportunity to work in the emerging field of Femtech in the women’s health space. It is ideal for anyone interested in issues like menopause, healthy ageing and maternal health.
💻 Senior Digital Health Lead, Bupa — One of the UK’s biggest health insurers is looking for someone to join their Digital Healthcare Development Team to improve customer access to digital healthcare. The position will focus on ensuring the accessibility and affordability of healthcare. Don’t say Pigeon never treats you!
🤝 Partnerships Lead, Simply Health — While on their mission to provide affordable, accessible, and effective health and wellbeing solutions, Simply Health are looking for someone with excellent communication skills and a proven track record in building successful strategic partnerships. Do you have the gift of the gab? Apply today!
Got news, jobs or events you think is worth coo-ing over? Let us know! Email us: news@healthtechpigeon.com
Healthtech Pigeon is curated and produced by SomX, the communications and creative agency for healthcare. We are clinicians, scientists, creatives and communicators dedicated to serving our healthtech, biotech, pharma and public sector clients with services across strategy, content, PR, design, events and media production. Get in touch to learn more.