Patient aged 12 told to use Choose and Book
A patient aged 12 has become the youngest patient to use the Choose and Book appointment system, after her practice required her to use the system to book a hospital appointment. Shani Sakin was sent a letter by her GP practice near Bristol asking her to contact the Choose and Book team to select an […]
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Open eHealth Foundation sets out priorities
The Open eHealth Foundation (OeHF), an open source initiative for improving the exchange of medical information using existing standards, has been incorporated as a non-profit organisation in Delaware enabling it to begin operations. The OeHF is intended to provide software components under an Open Source license that will boost the open standards-based exchange of medical […]
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RCGP says good GPs have great websites
The ‘exemplary GP’ has a clear and accurate practice website and seeks patient’s consent before giving sensitive information to other healthcare professionals, according to the latest guidance on good medical practice for GPs. The Royal College of General Practitioners and the BMA’s General Practitioner Committee have updated their guidance Good Medical Practice for General Practitioners […]
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NHS Direct says it has no 0845 plans
NHS Direct has said it has no plans to switch its premium rate 0845 telephone number to a standard rate 0345 number that has been reserved for its use. Last week BT Wholesale published a briefing note on its website stating that the 0345 4647 number would “eventually replace the NHS Direct number 0845 4647” […]
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QoF to be ‘crucial’ in obesity plans
The government has said the Quality and Outcomes Framework will play a “crucial” part in its plans to tackle obesity as campaigners call for the QoF to be adapted to include more indicators on sexual health. Health secretary Alan Johnson told a Fabian Society meeting last week that QoF was a crucial part of the […]
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InterSystems and Hayes partner on integration
Healthcare database and integration specialist InterSystems, has signed a partnership agreement with Hayes Management Consulting, to find new ways of offering expanded integration technology to healthcare IT markets worldwide. Management consultancy Hayes plans to develop affordable packaged software, such as business process and activity dashboards, using the InterSystems Ensemble integration platform to bring disparate healthcare […]
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Scotland superbug alert system delayed
The Electronic Communication of Surveillance in Scotland system, which will be used to alert doctors to superbug outbreaks, will not be launched until next year. The web-based early warning system was meant to be deployed later this year. However, Health Protection Scotland, the agency responsible for ECOSS, says linking Scottish diagnostic labs to the system […]
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Milton Keynes’ CRS caused ‘near melt down’
The deployment of a national programme care records system at Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust “developed into an untenable situation which resulted in near melt down of the organisation.”
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DH chooses 40 bodies for information accreditation
A total of 40 organisations have been selected to test the Department of Health’s information accreditation scheme that will award quality marks to bodies producing health and social care information. The initiative will ‘kite mark’ information producers, accrediting the source of information rather than the information itself, to make it easier for people to be […]
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Patientline acquired by Hospedia
Patientline UK has announced its decision to enter administration and been acquired by the newly formed Hospedia Ltd, a hospital entertainment and telephony company funded by the existing Patientline banking syndicate. The acquisition, which was announced late on Friday, will see £35m of Patientline’s debt wiped out through a debt for equity swap, if it […]
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