A joint report published today by the King's Fund, the Nuffield Trust, and the Health Foundation, Closing the gap, highlights the growing shortage of staffing in the NHS, and associated difficulties in achieving the goals of the NHS Long Term Plan.

Doctolib, the French digital health startup, has closed a €150 million funding round at a valuation of over €1 billion. The round was led by General Atlantic, with the participation of Bpifrance, Eurazeo, Kernel and Accel. 

Unite Us has raised $35 million in its Series B investment round led by Oak HC/FT. Other investors include Town Hall Ventures, Define Ventures, Scout Ventures, Luminate, and New York Ventures. The funds will be used to fuel the company's growth.

Liva Healthcare has closed an €8 million investment round from three new investors: MIG, Santo Venture Capital and Digital Health Ventures. The investment will enable Liva Healthcare to scale up with existing clients, expand further geographically and continue its technological innovation. 

The Organ Donation Act has today passed into law, and from spring 2020 all adults in England will be considered potential donors unless they opt out or are excluded.

TriNetX, a clinical research network, has closed its Series D investment round of $40 million led by Merck GHIF. The funding will be used for international expansion and product development.

Philips has agreed to acquire the healthcare information systems (HCIS) business unit of Carestream Health. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced a wide-ranging reorganisation to modernise how it delivers on its role as 'the world's leading authority on public health'.

MMC Ventures, which invests in AI companies, has published its State of AI 2019 report, revealing rapid recent progress in AI adoption in healthcare.

The Gustave Roussy Institut, a cancer centre in France, is to deploy blockchain in data-sharing applications for oncology research. The technology will be built in partnership with Embleema, a developer of a healthcare blockchain network, and will be used to improve transparency, patient safety and patient engagement in clinical trials.