NHS chief executive, Sir Simon Stevens, has announced plans for a £160m initiative to roll-out ‘COVID-friendly’ cancer treatments for patients across the UK. The money will be used to pay for treatments, which do not have as big an impact on patients’ immune systems but require less hospital visits compared to other drugs. Thereby meaning
Vertex has achieved an agreement with NHS England to reimburse its triple combination therapy Kaftrio (ivacaftor/tezacaftor/elexacaftor) in combination with Kalydeco (ivacaftor), should the medicine win European approval. The new expanded agreement includes reimbursed access to Vertex’ currently licensed medicines – Kalydeco (ivacaftor), Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) and Symkevi (tezacaftor/ivacaftor), as well as the triple combination therapy if
NHSX, NHS Digital and Microsoft have signed a ‘landmark’ deal which will save the NHS ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’ and enable all eligible organisations in England to access Microsoft 365 digital tools. According to NHS Digital, the agreement ‘guarantees significant cost savings for both individual NHS organisations and the NHS as a whole’, and
NHS England has launched new online services allowing those with diabetes to better manage their condition remotely during the coronavirus pandemic. A range of online videos and training will be available for children and adults, which will include advice on treatment and care and adopting healthy behaviours on diet and exercise, complementing video consultations with
According to Cancer Research UK, approximately 2.4 million people in the UK are currently waiting for cancer screening, tests or cancer treatment. The charity says COVID-19 has caused ‘enormous disruption’ to cancer services throughout the UK, with delays to cancer treatment, screening and diagnosis, and ‘huge decreases’ in urgent referrals to hospital of patients with
The government has announced that certain NHS patients with coronavirus will soon be able to access Gilead’s remdesivir in a bid to speed up their recovery. The drug is currently being tested in clinical trials around the world, with early data showing it can shorten the time to recovery by about four days. The Early
According to new NHS research, people with type 1 diabetes are more likely to die of Covid-19 than those with type 2, thereby confirming that diabetes significantly increases coronavirus sufferers’ risk of dying. The study also mentions that almost a third of all deaths from coronavirus among people in hospital in England during the pandemic
NHS England has confirmed four new integrated care systems (ICS) in England, joining the 14 already in existence plus two devolved health systems in Greater Manchester and Surrey. The action leads to around half of England’s population now being served by such a system, including the whole of Yorkshire (with the confirmation of an ICS
The coronavirus pandemic has caused global health authorities and agencies to introduce new measures as respective governments respond to growing outbreaks. That includes the NHS which announced today that it will increase its capabilities to test for the coronavirus, which causes the respiratory disease known as COVID-19. Currently, 1,500 tests can be carried out per
UK healthcare authorities have approved a free messaging app for use in hospitals, in a bid to prevent staff from sharing sensitive clinical information using consumer services such as WhatsApp. Hospify is the first general purpose messaging app to be given the stamp of approval by the organisations overseeing the NHS Apps Library. These include;
