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UK plans world's first artificial blood transfusions by 2017
To better treat specialist patients, scientists have experimented with lab-grown organs and cells for some time. For the NHS, maintaining UK blood supplies is also high on the agenda, so it's been working to offset the fall in donations by growing its own. In fact, the health service says we may only be two years away from seeing the world's first artificial transfusions, which could potentially revolutionize treatment for seriously ill people with complex blood types.
The NHS wants to give wearables to hospital patients
To cut costs and improve patient care, the NHS is looking to technology more than ever before. Under its latest proposals, Britain's healthcare service wants to introduce free wi-fi across all of its hospitals, giving doctors and nurses the ability to use tablets on the wards. The hope is that this will reduce paper waste and speed up administrative tasks, giving staff some extra time to visit their patients. It also opens up the possibility for patients to wear wearables, such as skin sensors. Patients with diabetes, for instance, could then be monitored around the clock to help doctors spot early signs of deterioration.
NHS vehicles trial tech that turns traffic lights green on command
Traffic lights are a pet peeve for many city-dwelling drivers. You'll be running late for a meeting, but all of your attempts to make up the time are thwarted by successive red lights. Bad luck on the road can be particularly problematic for ambulances in the UK -- when they're rushing to the scene of an accident, every second counts. To help out, Newcastle University is spearheading a new project that gives NHS vehicles priority at the lights.
The UK will decode the genes of 100,000 people to help fight cancer
The UK is about to launch one of the more ambitious attempts at using genetic research to fight cancer and other nasty diseases. The National Health Service's England branch plans to collect and sequence the genomes of 100,000 people in hopes of understanding both how DNA affects these sicknesses (such as gene-specific causes or symptoms) and what doctors can do to test and treat patients. The strategy will see the NHS run 11 specialized Genomic Medicine Centres across England, with more due in the future. So long as everything goes smoothly, the first recruits will sign up in February.
The NHS will let you access your health records from a phone
The NHS is one of Britain's greatest achievements and the envy of countless countries around the world, but sometimes it's found it hard to ditch the paperwork and embrace technology. In its ongoing bid to improve patient care (and save a few pennies) the NHS today outlined a number of new digital improvements that include making use of apps and opening up access to millions of healthcare records. Parents, for example, will be offered a new digital "red book" that lets them manage their child's early health updates from a smartphone or tablet. The NHS will also start giving smartphone apps a new golden seal of approval so patients and carers know they're reliable. Who knows, in the future, doctors could use your Apple Health or Google Fit data to cure all of your ailments.
London's E-Health Cloud program will send patient records to the stratosphere next month
You'd think that the recent spate of high-profile cyberattacks would've deterred the healthcare industry from sending patient records to the cloud -- but you'd be wrong. Beginning next month, all data on patients at London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital will be stored in a centralized database, accessible from any computer, smartphone or tablet. Under the National Health Service's pilot program, known as E-Health Cloud, patients will be able to decide which doctors, nurses or family members can view their records, allowing them to easily share their data with other specialists. Flexiant, the Scottish software company that developed the platform, hopes to eventually expand it to other treatment phases, including assisted living, and insists that its system will help the NHS save money in the long-term. Security, however, will likely prove critical to the program's success. Users will have to pass multiple ID checkpoints to access the database, but privacy-wary Londoners might demand protection a bit more robust than an automated bouncer. You won't need to adhere to a dress code to view the full PR, available after the break.
Robots to invade Scottish hospital, pose as 'workers'
A new £300 million ($445 million) hospital is set to open up soon in Stirlingshire, Scotland. Why would you care about that? Maybe because laser-guided robots will play a fundamental role in the facility's daily running, including the disposal of waste, delivery of meals, cleaning of operating theaters, and (gulp!) drug dispensation. We're told they'll have their own underground lair corridors and dedicated lifts, with humanoid employees able to call them up via a PDA. It's believed that using robots to perform the dirty work will be more sanitary than current methods, but we have to question the sanity of anyone who believes this isn't the first step toward the robot rebellion. Well, it's been nice knowing you guys.
British NHS lauds Wii Fit Plus for flabby bum-busting potential
You know, we've been pretty skeptical about the whole "fit" part of the "Wii Fit" phenomenon, and for good reason: as studies have shown, the health benefits of gaming, whether you're sitting, standing, or faux-bowling, are minimal at best. Still, for a number of consumers at home and abroad, the game conjures up notions of leading an active lifestyle. So perhaps it is no surprise, as the Telegraph reports, that Britain's National Health Service is using it to promote its Change4Life initiative -- even going so far as to allow the company to append the Change4Life logo on its upcoming Wii Fit Plus release. And how about those who cry foul -- specifically, those who point out that the deal includes Nintendo shelling out money to help promote the NHS-funded program. See how one might get the idea that this is a "pay to play" affair? To the government's credit, it does stress that it's endorsing an exercise, not a video game system. "Active video games, where kids need to jump up and down or dance about as part of the game, are a great way to get kids moving," a spokesperson said. Rob Saunders, the British spokesman for Nintendo, had this to say: "If you are worried about your bingo wings or your flabby bum, the game will give you specific exercises to target those areas." Bingo wings? Flabby bums? Why didn't you say so in the first place?[Via Yahoo]
NHS plans future in Second Life
The National Health Service, the largest health care provider in the world, held an International Clinic Summit earlier this week with the remit of making sure the future of the NHS is clinically led and can meet the demands of delivering health care over the next decade. This summit was held in parallel in real life and Second Life and you can parts of the presentations and webcasts via the summit's website.This isn't the first such meeting that has spilled across real life and Second Life of course, famously Eduserv was here in May and reported in the mainstream UK media, and the iCommons summit in June ran in parallel too. However, Second Life is becoming a common method for virtual attendance at meetings, despite the doomsayers and naysayers, and becoming widely accepted at the highest levels, at least in the UK.
Sony's new gear for the A/V home integration market
Sony's got a whole slew of high-end home integration audio / video equipment at the International Builders Show this week, with hopes to grab some of those new construction dollars. Three new systems Sony is unveiling, the NHS-1030, 2030 and 3030 all include music storage and servers, while the 2030 and 3030 add in DVD management with 400-disc changers. The NHS systems also pack 7.1 surround sound and multi-room media distribution. At the top of the line, Sony's NHS-3030 can manage audio and video entertainment for up to 13 rooms, with a rack featuring an ES A/V receiver and six media sources, included that 400-disc changer, music storage and room for XM Radio, secondary DVD players and other HD or SD components. The 2030 and 1030 cater to six rooms each, and all of the systems can be browsed via TV, LCD touch panel remotes or wall controls. Sony also has its new NHS-330 with audio and video for three rooms and inputs. All of the systems include room for expansion, and Sony's packing along its new Standard and Platinum Sposato in-wall/in-ceiling speakers, a 1080p displays or projectors of your choice3, pre-programmed LCD remotes, in-wall remotes and all the wiring and setup comes with the estimated $10k-$50k installed price. With solutions such as Media Center Extender and Apple TV gaining acceptance, the days of extravagant home entertainment networks like this might be on the way out, but they clearly aren't dead yet.
