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Not a cloud in the sky – but they could offer an answer to NHS data storage

Our roundup of the health news headlines on Monday 27 June.

Patient data will be stored on the web using ‘cloud' technology in a new pilot scheme, the Telegraph reports.

The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital project, which could be used in GP surgeries, may pave the way for a more efficient way of storing and sharing patient information. Now where have heard that before?

Meanwhile the BMA's annual conference opens this morning with a warning, carried by many of the papers, from the association's leader that plans to reward GPs for enforcing budgetary controls could fundamentally damage trust with their patients.

The Guardian reports that BMA chair Dr Hamish Meldrum said that plans for the quality premium might lead to allegations that doctors were withholding patient treatments and referrals to increase their pay.

The Independent reports that researchers believe they may have found a ‘missing link' in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Scientists say they have discovered a new molecule that could lead to a drug treatment to repair myelin, the fatty material that coats and insulates nerves. Damage to myelin can cause the symptoms of MS but there are currently no treatments to repair it.

Genes also hold the key to another advance covered in the Guardian which reports that doctors have treated a life-threatening blood disease by repairing flaws in the genetic code of a living animal.

The new technique, called genome editing, holds particular promise for a group of illnesses that run in families and are caused by faults in genes that underpin the healthy working of the immune system, bone marrow and liver.

Spotted a story we've missed? Let us know and we'll update the digest throughout the day...