The pressure on the NHS caused by the omicron variant of Covid-19 appeared to be shifting from London to the north. Under orders from health and social care secretary Sajid Javid, NHS England splashed the cash to put private sector capacity on standby in case things got worse and the health service was overwhelmed.
The roll-out of pathology networks and radiology consortiums continues and five trusts in Surrey and Sussex picked Sectra for a picture archiving and communications system that will enable them to share images and speed up reporting times. Medway NHS Foundation Trust made a small start on its Allscripts electronic patient record deployment, and a London mental health trust trialled a mobile app from TPP called Brigid.
