iSoft completes eight RIS installations in London
iSoft’s RadCentre radiology information system has been installed successfully into eight London trusts as part of a £3.9m deal with BT under the National Programme for IT, the company announced yesterday. RadCentre is iSoft’s radiology information system (RIS) designed to deliver radiology support across a multi-user computer network, enabling personal computers to be linked to […]
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PAC report brings brickbats and bouquets for NPfIT
Mixed reaction greeted the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee’s report on the National Programme for IT with critics and supporters dividing on predictable lines and the NHS Confederation saying the programme must be made to work, despite its problems. Health minister Lord Hunt, claimed the evidence taken to produce the report was outdated. “This PAC […]
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Visually impaired clinicians needed to develop solution
Out-of-hours IT provider Adastra is looking for visually impaired doctors and nurses who would be interested in helping to develop an IT solution to enable visually impaired clinicians to return to practice. A pilot project looking at the creation of an interface between Adastra’s urgent care case management systems and an aural utility called JAWS […]
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IT and e-health is ‘every nurse’s business’
IT and e-health is every nurse’s business because it has to be integrated into practice, nursing leader, June Clark, said on the eve of a major discussion at the Royal College of Nursing’s annual congress this week. The discussion on the theme “Computerised records – what can they offer?” will be available online at the College […]
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PAC report reveals postcode lottery on GP systems
Connecting for Health has treated contracts for GP systems differently in its five clusters with local service providers contracted to supply GP systems to all practices in three clusters while there is no such agreement in the other two clusters. The different contractual arrangements around the country are revealed in print for the first time […]
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PAC says NPfIT suppliers are ‘struggling to deliver’
A damning new report by the influential House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) questions the basic business case behind and contracts awarded for England’s £12.4bn NHS National Programme for IT. The report focuses on the lack of progress on implementing electronic patient records which it says "suppliers are struggling to deliver" and calls for […]
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New web based system to monitor C. difficile bug
A new web based system to enhance monitoring of the Clostridium difficile bug (C difficile) is to be introduced later this month by the Department of Health (DH), enabling acute and primary care trusts to monitor progress on local targets and to identify ‘infection hotspots’ requiring attention. The department says the new system will both […]
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Patient safety tops IT priorities in CIO poll
Implementing information technology to reduce medical errors and promote patient safety remains the top priority for healthcare chief information officers (CIO) surveyed in a major US poll. The 18th Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) survey of CIOs found that safety issues remained the respondents’ prime concern both for now and for the future. […]
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Fujitsu signs pathology contracts with three trusts
Three NHS trusts in the South of England have signed contracts totalling £5.5m with Fujitsu Services to provide them with Cerner’s PathNet pathology suite integrated with Cerner Millennium. The contracts will run until 2013. The three trusts are Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust, East Kent Hospitals and Medway NHS Trust, Kent. The PathNet system is […]
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Patients helped by remote monitoring, study finds
Remote monitoring of patients with chronic heart failure has a positive impact on clinical outcomes, according to a study published this week. A review published in the BMJ found that structured telephone support or telemonitoring by a health professional reduced admissions to hospital for chronic heart failure and deaths from all causes by nearly one […]
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