NHS 24 faces legal action over patient deaths
NHS 24, the Scottish health helpline service, is being sued for £750,000 damages by the partner of a man who died of toxic shock. Kerry Robertson is claiming that the helpline’s neglect contributed to the death of 30 year-old Steven Wiseman. It is the first time that the helpline service has been sued for medical […]
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OOH performance measurement poor, says report
Many primary care trusts are unable to measure their performance on out-of-hours care, partly because providers do not have the necessary telephone systems, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has concluded. The PAC report on out-of-hours (OOH) care found that PCTs were failing to meet quality requirements, due to a combination of poor performance […]
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Trusts set to benefit from integrated cable network
NHS trusts and ambulances are set to benefit from faster and better communications following the merger of the ntl and Telewest networks to create one UK-wide network. The new network was launched as part of the cable firm’s ‘Bigger Than You Think’ campaign, which aimed to show the increased scale, scope and capability of the […]
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Starting gun fired for Summary Care Record roll-out
The government’s ambitious plan for a national system of electronic summary care patient records (SCR) will begin trials tomorrow at two GP practices in Bolton, in the north-west of England. Approximately 14,500 patients will have a summary of the GP record, containing details of name, address, medication history, serious illnesses and allergies, uploaded to a […]
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DH to lift hospital mobile phone ban
The Department of Health has announced that a ban on patients and doctors using mobile phones in hospitals in England is to be lifted this spring. The changes follow advice published by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) which said that “a total ban on mobile phones is not required and is impossible […]
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Sunderland uses e-SAP to unite health and social care data
Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust has rolled out a new electronic Single Assessment Process system from Liquidlogic in an effort to standardise the assessment process for adult care across the Sunderland Health and Social Care Community. e-SAP has been rolled out in partnership with City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust and Sunderland City Council and […]
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Winchester says Millennium becoming ‘more robust’
The delays in implementation of the Cerner Millenium patient administration system have helped to make the system ‘fit for purpose and more robust’, according to the IT lead at Winchester and Eastleigh NHS Trust. The Mid Hampshire Deployment Family, consisting of three trusts: Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust, part of Hampshire Partnership Trust and […]
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EMIS becomes first GP supplier to commit to CUI
Primary care systems supplier EMIS is to become the first major clinical software vendor to the health service to incorporate elements of the new NHS Common User Interface (CUI), developed by Microsoft on behalf of Connecting for Health, into its software. EMIS revealed to EHI Primary Care last week that it will incorporate components of […]
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Chesterfield Foundation Trust gets SRC digital dictation
SRC has won a European public procurement to provide a trust-wide digital dictation and workflow management solution to Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The trust, which serves the North Derbyshire area, is installing the WinScribe digital dictation solution, for use by clinical and management staff to improve medical record keeping and document production. SRC […]
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GP representatives consider Choose and Book boycott
A boycott of Choose and Book and non co-operation with the National Programme for IT are among the sanctions to be considered by GP representatives this week in response to the profession’s 0% pay rise. The threat to continuing use of the Choose and Book system comes as GPs’ incentive scheme for e-booking is due […]
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