Your morning summary of digital health news, information and events you need to know if you want to be “in the know.”
👇 News
🎅 Online pharmacy Pharmacy2U has warned that calls to NHS 111 for urgent repeat prescriptions will increase over the next month, as busy festive schedules clash with seasonal pressure on the NHS. According to the latest NHSE statistics, around one in five (20%) online consultations to NHS 111 in 2025 are for urgent repeat prescriptions, up from just one in 15 (6.6%) three years ago.
🔔 NHS Wales staff are urging those facing festive financial stress, loneliness or feelings of grief to use their free online mental health support service. silver cloud. SilverCloud is available on a self-referral basis (without consulting a GP) to anyone aged 16 or over who has mild to moderate mental health issues such as anxiety, stress, depression and insomnia.
⛄A trio of UK academics say lessons from the Covid pandemic can help ease the pressure facing the NHS this Christmas. The experts, writing in the B.M.J.They say a three-pronged approach: administering flu vaccines, increasing support so sick people can stay home, and improving ventilation and air quality would help protect people from the flu.
🎁The MHRA has published advice on staying safe when it comes to medicines and medical devices this Christmas. He advice includes a warning that cranberry products, including juices and sauces, may increase the chance of bruising or bleeding in people taking warfarin, while foods high in tyramine (such as aged cheeses, cured meats, and dark chocolate) may cause problems for people taking medications such as monoamine oxidase inhibitors, a type of antidepressant.
🍷For those who have gone overboard this Christmas, get a drip The clinic offers vitamin IV drips, vitamin injections and longevity treatments, including a detox drip containing antioxidants. The company was founded by Richard Chambers after he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 18 and admitted to intensive care. After benefiting from intravenous nutritional therapy administered in the hospital and continued privately, he was inspired to set up the business.
🎄 NHS data reveals that last winter there were more than 200,000 visits to A&E for conditions that could have been treated elsewhere, including 8,669 visits for itchy skin and 96,998 for sore throat. The NHS has released a short film titled “24 hours outside the emergency room”as part of a campaign to help people avoid unnecessary visits to emergency departments and GPs.
❓ Did you know that?
Investigation from the signature voice companion with conversational AI sentaireveals that loneliness and falls are the biggest fears of families with elderly relatives this Christmas. A nationally representative study of 2,000 Britons found that 65% are worried about their loved ones feeling lonely.
When asked to rank what families worry about most, 47% of families said they were most worried about falls, while 41% were most afraid of loneliness.
Paul Statham, chief executive of Sentai, said: “Christmas is almost synonymous with family time and being together, but this can increase feelings of loneliness when people cannot be with their loved ones.
“The consequences of not addressing this can be damaging. Many families want nothing more than to help and support their loved ones, but the challenges of daily life mean that is not always so simple.
“One of the biggest concerns not only reflected in our data but in the conversations we have with Sentai users is the fear of becoming a burden.
“Companion tools, like Sentai, mean families can stay connected without always having to be in the same room.”
Age research in the UKpublished on December 4, 2025, indicates that more than one million older people in the UK could face Christmas Day alone.
The charity’s survey of more than 2,600 people aged over 65 revealed that 11% will dine alone, while 5% will not see or speak to anyone during the day.
📖 what we are reading
The BMJ Christmas articlepublished on December 11, 2025, examines the rise in people, especially younger people, turning to AI chatbots for companionship, emotional intimacy and support, and why this presents a concern, especially around loneliness and mental well-being at Christmas time.
AI chatbot systems such as ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot are increasingly used as preferred confidants. The article says that while this can be seen as a positive democratization of emotional support and care in the time of need, there is growing concern around potential psychological and social harms, particularly those related to social isolation and loneliness.
The article warns that “we could be witnessing a generation that learns to form emotional bonds with entities that lack human capacities for empathy, care and relational attunement” and says that evidence-based strategies to reduce social isolation and loneliness are paramount.
In light of this evidence, the article says that it seems prudent to consider problematic chatbot use as a new environmental risk factor when evaluating a patient with altered mental status.
🚨 Upcoming events
January 30, 2025, virtual event – NHS digital transformation 2025
