• Can private tech groups reduce cost pressures on Britain’s NHS?

FINANCIAL TIMES -  Londra  -  (Sarah Neville and Ian Johnston) -  A new app that turns a mobile phone into a clinical-grade scanner is easing pressure on one of the UK’s busiest emergency departments, while another company is using music to treat anxiety and soothe pain, reducing drug bills. Across the health and care sector, new partnerships with technology companies are being forged with the aim of cutting costs as well as contributing to wider environmental goals. However, scarce resources and sometimes cumbersome regulatory requirements are hampering their impact, according to those in the sector, despite growing evidence that such innovations are reducing strain on services. The testing application called ClearScreen, which can be installed on a smartphone has been developed by TestCard, a British diagnostics company, in collaboration with Guy’s and St Thomas’s, a large London NHS trust. During the course of a trial, started in 2021, the app has proved so effective that staff are now using it to trial the world’s first dual Covid and flu test, developed by Derby-based SureScreen Diagnostics and piloted by the NHS trust... >>>