The National Health Service (NHS), the health care system of the United Kingdom, is one of the largest health care entities in the world and has been successfully serving the UK population for decades. The NHS is also the fourth-largest employer globally. True to its reputation, some of the most modern and technically advanced medical services are available in the United Kingdom. However, between the acute, primary, secondary, and tertiary care providers of the NHS, there needs to be seamless integration and interoperability to provide timely holistic care to patients at a national level. Various efforts have been taken and programs launched since 2002 to achieve digital transformation in the NHS but with partial success rates. As it is important to understand a problem before trying to solve it, in this paper, we focus on tools used to assess the digital maturity of NHS trusts and organizations. Additionally, we aim to present the impact of ongoing transformation attempts on secondary services, particularly mental health. This paper considered the literature on digital maturity and performed a rapid review of currently available tools to measure digital maturity. We have performed a multivocal literature review that included white papers and web-based documents in addition to peer-reviewed literature. Further, the paper also provides a perspective of the ground reality from a mental health service provider’s point of view. Assessment tools adopted from the global market, later modified and tailor-made to suit local preferences, are currently being used. However, there is a need for a robust framework that assesses status, allows target setting, and tracks progress across diverse providers.

Individuals diagnosed with systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) are considered risk groups for COVID-19 severity. This study assessed differences in cardiac autonomic function (CAF) and functional capacity (FC) in SAH individuals without COVID-19 infection compared to SAH individuals post-COVID-19. Participants comprised 40 SAH individuals aged 31 to 80 years old, grouped as SAH with COVID-19 (G1; n = 21) and SAH without COVID-19 (G2; n = 19). CAF was assessed via heart rate variability (HRV), measuring R–R intervals during a 10-min supine period. Four HRV indices were analyzed through symbolic analysis: 0V%, 1V%, 2LV%, and 2UV%. FC assessment was performed by a 6-min walk test (6MWT). G1 and G2 showed no significant differences in terms of age, anthropometric parameters, clinical presentation, and medication use. G2 exhibited superior 6MWT performance, covering more distance (522 ± 78 vs. 465 ± 59 m, p < 0.05). Specifically, G2 demonstrated a moderate positive correlation between 6MWT and the 2LV% index (r = 0.58; p < 0.05). Shorter walking distances were observed during 6MWT in SAH individuals post-COVID-19. However, the study did not find impaired cardiac autonomic function in SAH individuals post-COVID-19 compared to those without. This suggests that while COVID-19 impacted FC, CAF remained relatively stable in this population.

Mental health illness is the single biggest cause of inability within the UK, contributing up to 22.8% of the whole burden compared to 15.9% for cancer and 16.2% for cardiovascular disease. The more extensive financial costs of mental ailments in Britain have been evaluated at British Pound Sterling (GBP) 105.2 billion each year. This burden could be decreased with productive forms and utilization of computerized innovations. Electronical health records (EHRs), for instance, could offer an extraordinary opportunity for research and provide improved and optimized care. Consequently, this technological advance would unburden the mental health system and help provide optimized and efficient care to the patients. Using natural language processing methods to explore unstructured EHR text data from mental health services in the National Health Service (NHS) UK brings opportunities and technical challenges in the use of such data and possible solutions. This descriptive study compared technical methods and approaches to leverage large-scale text data in EHRs of mental health service providers in the NHS. We conclude that the method used is suitable for mental health services. However, broader studies including other hospital sites are still needed to validate the method.

Background: Period poverty is a global health and social issue that needs to be addressed. The primary aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive understanding on period poverty, including outcomes associated menstruation. Methods: All observational and randomised clinical trials reporting menstruation challenges, menstrual poverty and menstrual products were included. Our search strategy included multiple electronic databases of PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, ProQuest and EMBASE. Studies published in a peer review journal in English between the 30 ^th of April 1980 and the 30 ^th of April 2022 were included. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to assess the risk of bias (RoB) of the systematic included studies. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) together with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) are reported overall and for sub-groups. Results: A total of 80 studies were systematically selected, where 38 were included in the meta-analysis. Of the 38 studies, 28 focused on children and young girls (i.e., 10-24 years old) and 10 included participants with a wider age range of 15-49 years. The prevalence of using disposable sanitary pads was 45% (95% CI = [0.35,0.58]). The prevalence of menstrual education pre-menarche was 68% (95% CI = [0.56, 0.82]). The prevalence of good MHM was 39% (95% CI = [0.25, 0.61]). Women in rural area (OR = 0.30, 95% CI = [0.13, 0.69]) were 0.70 times less likely to have good MHM practices than those living in urban area. Discussion: There was a lack of evidence, especially from low- and middle-income countries. Further research to better understand the scope and prevalence of period poverty should be considered. This will enable the development of improved policies to increase access to menstrual products and medical support where necessary. Funding: Not Applicable Registration: A systematic methodology was developed and published (CRD42022339536).

Introduction: Menopause is characterised by the ending of the menstrual cycle as part of a natural process. However, menopause can also be caused by other health conditions, such as premature ovarian failure or cancers that may have led to an oophorectomy or a radical hysterectomy. The physiological and psychological mechanisms linked to menopause across all age groups, races and ethnicities are not well understood. The paucity of data could reduce the advancement of optimal clinical practice, leading to reduced quality of life for women. To better explore and assess menopause, we have designed the MenopAuse mental hEalth Rating (MARiE) tool. Methods: We will conduct a prospective mixed methods study using two workstreams of WP2a and WP2b among in women and trans-men ≥18 years old that are experiencing perimenopause, menopause or post-menopause among an array of ethnicities and races. WP2a will involve a number of validated clinical assessments of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Insomnia Severity Index Scale, Menopause Rating Scale, Greene Climacteric Scale, Health Related Quality of Life, Quebec Pain Disability Scale, and Burnout Assessment Tool will be administered digitally using the Qualtrex platform. WP2b will assess the feasibility of using a novel tool called MARiE to report face validity and efficacy. Ethics approval: Research Ethics approval reference for this study in the UK is 22/EE/0159. As required, country-specific approvals have been obtained and continue to be secured. Dissemination: The study findings will be made available using a peer-review publication journal, workshops and conferences.

UNSTRUCTURED The National Health Service (NHS), the healthcare system of the UK, is one of the largest healthcare entities in the world and has been successfully serving the UK population for decades. The NHS is also the 4th largest employer globally. True to its reputation, some of the most modern and technically advanced medical services are available in the UK. However, between the acute, primary, secondary, and tertiary care providers of NHS, there needs to be seamless integration and interoperability to provide timely, holistic care to the patients at a national level. Various efforts have been taken and programs launched since 2002 to achieve digital transformation in NHS, but with partial success rates. As it is important to completely understand a problem before trying to solve the problem, in this article, we focus on tools used to assess the digital maturity of NHS trusts and organizations. Assessment tools adopted from the global market, later modified and tailor-made to suit local preferences are currently being used. But there is a need for a robust framework that assesses status, allows target setting, and tracks progress across diverse providers.