The annual Healthcare Computing conference (HC2006) in Harrogate is to feature for the first time a series of workshops for technical staff new to the NHS.
The stream, ‘Understanding Healthcare’, will be aimed at IT staff who have just joined the healthcare sector and be designed to educate them about the realities of healthcare delivery. It will take place on the Tuesday 21st March and can be booked separately from the main event.
The draft programme covers the basics of how primary care and general practice works, including the referral process, prescribing, monitoring, reporting and QOF, as well as how hospitals are managed and financed, and how the diagnostic and nursing processes work within them.
Speakers include Heather Strachan, director of nursing at NHS Argyll and Clyde, Tony Corkett, PACS programme director at Kent and Medway SHA and Dr Glyn Hayes, chair of the BCS health informatics forum.
The purpose of the course is to help IT specialists who "are finding that the NHS is not like many other domains in which IT has a role". The course will cover how medical data and record structures work, as well as how to relate to clinical staff.
The main part of the conference running from 20-22 March will feature updates from the English, Welsh and Scottish health IT strategies, and a presentation on European approaches to the subject by Nick Bosanquet, professor of Health Policy at Imperial College, London.
Links