DH rejects patient opt-out requests
The Department of Health has rejected patients’ requests to stop their information being uploaded to the NHS data spine. On Friday the DH wrote to patients who had sent in a coupon from the Guardian newspaper requesting to opt-out telling them that would not be able to do. The eight page letter from the DH […]
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Fresh guidance issued on PBC data requirements
Fresh guidance on practice-based commissioning sets out the minimum data requirements that primary care trusts (PCTs) are expected to provide to GP practices. The document, ‘Practice based commissioning: practical implementation‘, makes it clear that PCTs are responsible for ensuring that the information needs of practices are met, either by providing the data themselves or contracting […]
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Information Centre to centralise social care records
The Information Centre is working towards producing a new information system for adult social care records, called the Adult Social Care Information Development Programme (ASCID). The aim of the programme is to make patient records of elderly patients more person-centred and flexible. The Information Centre is carrying out a major review of social care information […]
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Kodak to implement PACS in Tuscany
Kodak has agreed a five year deal worth €20m to install its Carestream software in the south-east region of Tuscany, Italy. Carestream PACS and information management solutions will be deployed in 14 hospitals, allowing them to centrally archive, view and manage the records of over 800,000 patients. The hospitals handle over a million radiological examinations […]
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Anger at CMO’s request to forward opt-out coupons
England’s chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson has written to all GPs asking them to forward to the Department of Health any letters from patients wanting to opt out of the NHS Care Records Service. The letter has enraged GP representatives who claim it would be a gross breach of privacy to forward letters from […]
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E-Health Insider wins technology journalism award
E-Health Insider’s editor and co-founder, Jon Hoeksma, was named Technology Journalist of Year in the 2006 techMark Awards last night. The award was given for Jon’s coverage of the troubles of healthcare IT supplier, iSoft. Other journalists shortlisted were: Paul Durman, Sunday Times; Jo Moulds, Daily Telegraph; Andrew Murray Watson, Independent on Sunday and Phil […]
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PCTs sign up for prescription clinical support software
Prescription software firm ScriptSwitch have been awarded contracts to provide their ‘real-time’ support software to ten Primary Care trusts. ScriptSwitch is a software package developed in partnership with the NHS which sets out to improve clinical excellence by supporting the prescriber. It delivers concise medicines management guidelines at the point of prescribing, as configured locally […]
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Quicksilva releases spine compliance software
Quicksilva Software Solutions has released an application that mimics the messages generated by Connecting for Health’s data spine so that developers have a better chance of judging compliance before they go into official testing. While Spine-in-a-Box is not intended to replace the ‘sandpit’ – the testing procedure made mandatory by Connecting for Health for all […]
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MP “looking into” how NAO report was drafted
Commons Public Accounts Committee member and outspoken scrutiniser of the National Programme for IT, Richard Bacon MP, says he is trying to find out what happened during the drafting process of the controversial National Audit Office (NAO) report on the programme. The late-running report was published in June and made no comment on delays in […]
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E-learning helps NHS managers understand finance
New e-learning modules which help managers to understand NHS finance have been developed by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). The modules were written and produced by communication and training specialists, Information Transfer, to help NHS staff understand the requirements of the new Patient Choice and Payment by Results schemes. An HFMA spokesperson told E-Health […]
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