NHS Lothian declares ‘data amnesty’
A Scottish health board has declared a data amnesty after a community health worker lost a USB stick containing personal information on 137 patients.
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QoF to be re-focused on health promotion
Lord Darzi’s NHS review outlines plans to overhaul the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) to place a greater emphasis on health promotion activity. Higher Quality Care for All: The NHS Next Stage Review states that the number of organisational and “process” indicators in the QoF will be reduced as part of plans to give GPs […]
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NHS Choices gets central role in future health
The DH’s flagship website has been given a central role in Lord Darzi’s plans for reforming the health service in England.
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Scottish GPs to get choice of systems
The Scottish government is to set up a national framework contract for GP systems and launch a procurement for an IT system or systems to replace GPASS, according to its new e-health strategy. The plan means Scottish practices are likely to be brought under a Scottish version of England’s GP Systems of Choice (GPSoC) agreement […]
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CfH awards encryption contracts to three suppliers
Three GP system suppliers have signed a deal with Connecting for Health (CfH) to supply back up tape encryption services that meet the Department of Health’s new data security requirements. INPS, iSoft and Healthy Software have agreed details of their encryption services with CfH and PCTs can now order the services using the GP Systems […]
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NLH to close clinical answers website
The National Library for Health (NLH) is to close its online clinical question and answer service this week despite protests from its users. The Primary Care Question Answering Service has handled more than 6,000 queries from GPs, pharmacists and other primary care staff since it was set up in 2004 but will cease operation from […]
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Patient information easily obtained by phone
A team of doctors has warned that confidential patient information can be easily obtained from GP practices over the telephone after getting patient data from 45 practices without any verification in more than a third of cases. Dr Ed Fitzgerald and colleagues from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust contacted 45 different GP practices to obtain […]
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LMCs call for more recognition of QoF
GP representatives at the BMA’s local medical committees conference have called on the government to place more recognition on the achievements of GPs in meeting Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) targets. The LMC members overwhelmingly backed a motion calling for more government acknowledgement of the “high achievements” of GP practices in meeting the evidence-based targets […]
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Less than one in twenty patients use NHS Choices
A total of 4% of patients used the NHS Choices website as a source of information to choose their hospital according to the latest Department of Health survey. The 11th National Patient Choice Survey, conducted in January this year by IPSOS Mori, found that GPs were the most popular source of information on choice of […]
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FOI appeal on summary records legal status
A GP campaigning against the consent model for the Summary Care Record has taken his battle to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Dr Paul Thornton, a GP in Warwickshire, has lodged a Freedom of Information Act appeal with the Information Commissioner after the Department of Health refused to release its legal advice on the legal status […]
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