Reports highlight telecare’s popularity
Research studies on the two biggest telecare projects in the UK have highlighted the popularity of the technology among users. One of the reports, Piloting Telecare in Kent County Council: The Key Lessons, focuses on use of telecare in Kent where 550 people are currently piloting a range of telecare interventions. The other study, Smart […]
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Call for pay to discuss records with patients
GP representatives are calling for GP practices to be paid for the work involved in discussing records with patients before they are uploaded to the spine. The British Medical Association’s General Practitioner Committee has told GPs that it is continuing to back an opt-in consent model for the Summary Care Record but is aware that […]
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NHS 24 to take non-emergency 999 calls
Scottish patients who call 999 for an ambulance may end up being called back by staff from the information and advice line, NHS 24, from this spring. A new IT system is being developed so that details of non-urgent calls to the ambulance service can be passed electronically to NHS 24. Its nurses will phone […]
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Networks First takes on McKesson UK networking clients
Networks First, an independent provider of support services for network infrastructures, and its healthcare partner Bates IT, are assuming management and support of McKesson UK’s networking division. McKesson UK, part of the US healthcare services giant, works with over 350 NHS trusts on a range of services including patient administration systems, point-of-care clinical services, human […]
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Accenture completes handover to CSC
Management consultancy Accenture will today complete its hand over of two separate billion pound NHS IT contracts to Computer Sciences Corporation. Sources close Accenture suggest that the handover was completed at midnight Sunday, while a CSC spokesperson said that the arrangements would be completed by this evening. The change comes three years after Accenture won […]
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Lord Hunt returns as NHS IT minister
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath is back at the Department of Health and will be taking ministerial responsibility again for NHS information technology after a gap of nearly four years. He replaces Lord Warner who retired last month saying that he wished to spend less time with his ministerial red despatch boxes. Lord Hunt will […]
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Out of hours record systems review ordered by DH
The Department of Health (DH) has instructed all primary care trusts (PCTs) to review the use of paper-based systems by out of hours providers following the case of a patient who died after speaking to eight different out of hours doctors over a bank holiday weekend. The DH has acted after coroner Andrew Reid wrote […]
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New oncology system goes live at Arden Cancer Centre
A new oncology-specific, image-enabled electronic medical record system has gone live in the Arden Cancer Centre, part of the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. The new system from oncology system specialists, IMPAC, has been designed to improve overall workflow and practice management and to enhance care for cancer patients at the centre. IMPAC […]
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ScriptSwitch helps PCTs meet statin targets
Prescribing software can help to remind GPs to opt for cheaper generic drugs when they treat patients with high cholesterol, according to a new survey. The software supplier, ScriptSwitch, surveyed its 62 clients following the publication of national prescribing indication results for statins, drugs to lower cholesterol levels in people with or at risk of […]
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Computers – the greatest medical breakthrough?
Computers have been shortlisted in a British Medical Journal poll to determine the greatest medical breakthrough since 1840. They are one of 15 medical advances, chosen by BMJ readers, that have made the list to find the greatest medical breakthrough since the journal was launched 166 years ago. Other contenders for the title include anaesthesia, antibiotics, the risks […]
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