NHS boss says NPfIT ‘was not in right place’
NHS chief executive David Nicholson says the NHS IT programme had become too centralised to support the move to a health service based on plurality and far more locally-based decision making by clinicians and patients. Speaking at the World Healthcare Congress in Berlin on Monday Nicholson explained why the introuduction of the NHS National Programme for […]
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Siemens unveil new radiology solutions at ECR
Siemens Healthcare unveiled a new portal of IT software for radiologists and other hospital personnel who work with imaging staff, known as the syngo Portal, at this week’s European Congress of Radiologists. Siemens have developed three different strands of the systems, one for radiologists, one for referring physicians and one for senior executives. The solutions have […]
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Scottish NHS to receive £201m for e-health
Health boards across Scotland are to receive £201m to spend in areas such as e-health, primary care and primary and community care premises in the next financial year, the Scottish government has announced. The funds are part of a share of £525m worth of capital funding for the upgrade of equipment, IT systems, and facilities […]
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GPSoC contracts due for completion this month
Connecting for Health (CfH) is predicting that all GP practices using eligible systems under the GP Systems of Choice (GPSoC) initiative will have been switched to GPSoC contracts by the end of this month. The IT agency says primary care system suppliers have issued 400 “call-off” agreements to PCTs which must be signed by both […]
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Olympus installs 100th lab automation software
Olympus’ OLA2500 lab automation system Olympus has installed its 100th laboratory automation software solution in Germany, helping laboratories to analyse test tube specimens faster. The Olympus OLA2500 lab automation system is designed to help increase productivity and efficiency in medium to high volume laboratories. The system automates labour-intensive tasks such as sample identification, decapping, sorting, […]
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Johnson steps up pressure on 0844 numbers
Health secretary Alan Johnson has stepped up the pressure on practices using 0844 telephone numbers as campaigners draw up a list of more than 800 surgeries with such numbers. The health secretary, who is MP for Hull and Hessle West, criticised the use of 0844 numbers in his local paper as the Department of Health’s […]
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Four pilots for shared social care records
Three local authorities and one care trust are to pilot links between their social care systems and the NHS Personal Demographics Service (PDS). The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) has announced that Cheshire County Council, the London Borough of Greenwich, Slough Borough Council and Torbay Care Trust have been chosen, in association […]
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Moorfields develop glaucoma detection software
Experts at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital have developed software to spot signs of glaucoma earlier than conventional tests. The team believes that the test has the potential to prevent many patients from losing their sight, by monitoring their perception of motion. A central white spot and several white lines are displayed on a grey computer […]
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EHTEL offers guidance on telemedicine strategies
The European Health Telematics Association (EHTEL) has published a briefing paper looking at developments across the continent in telemedicine and improvements that could be made in the next two years. The ‘Sustainable telemedicine: paradigms for future-proof healthcare’ report highlights the successes of introducing telemedicine to date in Europe, and offers guidance as to how the […]
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Alzheimer’s diagnosis more effective with IT
Computers are able to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease faster and more accurately than clinicians, according to researchers. A study published in the journal Brain, using brain scans, computers can identify the characteristic damage of Alzheimer’s’ disease with as much as 96% accuracy, compared to 85% accuracy using current methods – a combination of scans, blood tests […]
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