For the second year running, news about McKesson headed the list of ‘most read’ stories on the EHI website in 2014.
Last year, the news that the US giant had decided to dispose of its International Operations Group, and with it McKesson UK, was top of the list.
This year, the news that private equity firm Symphony Technology Group was to acquire the business ran out top.
Shortly afterwards, EHI was able to report that the business, which included System C and Liquidlogic, was being rebranded System C; and that the founder and former chief executive of System C, Markus Bolton and Ian Denley were returning to run it.
That story didn’t make the top ten, but – perhaps unsurprisingly, because it affected readers working for and with the company directly – news of job cuts did.
Otherwise, the list of most read news stories was dominated by another US giant, Epic.
The news that Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust had managed to go-live with its electronic patient record just a few hours late on 26 October came in at number seven in the list.
The news that the marquee go-live had hit a few issues in its first week came in at number three.
And the news that another trust, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, was thinking of taking the system came in at number two.
Rounding out the top five most read stories was the revelation that the Department of Health had lost its long-running legal battle with Fujitsu over the company’s departure from the Southern Programme for IT in 2008.
This apparently cost the NHS £700m; even though no details were released, and neither was any report on lessons learned. Understandably this infuriated EHI readers; and made EHI editor Jon Hoeksma’s editorial on the debacle one of the most read Insight items of the year.
Other well-read Insights included a preview of the Epic go-live, and analysis of the care.data debacle; which took up no fewer than three of the top ten most read Insight slots.
The ambitious plan to extend the Hospital Episode statistics and link them to GP and other datasets was roundly criticised at the start of the year for a public information campaign that failed to mention the programme by name or include an opt out form.
Amid mounting concern about the damage being done to the NHS’ reputation for safeguarding confidential data, it was shelved in the spring and then re-booted as a series of pilots in the autumn.
In the process, director of patients and information Tim Kelsey found himself the subject of a ‘Downfall’ parody. An independent review of the programme is due in the New Year, so further news and analysis of the programme is likely to feature in EHI’s most read and commented lists of 2015.
Most read news stories of 2014:
Symphony buys McKesson UK health ops
Royal Devon edges towards Epic
Testing times for Epic at Cambridge
North Bristol to swap Cerner for Lorenzo
System C to cut 150 jobs
Epic goes live at Cambridge
NHS Trusts ranked on their clinical IT
Trusts win up to £8.2m in ‘tech fund 1’
Stevens calls for change on first day
Most read Insight of 2014:
InterSystems shakes up the EPR market
Three months and counting to an Epic event
A bad week in the bunker for care.data
Another view of free wi-fi
The husky that came back to bite
Care.data a row waiting to happen
Care.data a media.disaster
Fourteen predictions for 2014
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