MPs say Accenture’s departure evidence of NPfIT failure
Opposition MPs were quick to voice doubts about Accenture’s departure from most of its work under the National Programme for IT, seeing the move as evidence of failure. Liberal Democrat health spokesman, Steve Webb, said: “This is yet more evidence of a project in deep trouble that will doubtless mean more instability distracting health professionals […]
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High scores on QoF, but wait for exception reporting
Almost one in ten GP practices earned maximum points from last year’s Quality and Outcomes Framework according to data published today. Statistics released by the Information Centre show that GPs increased their average performance in the second year of the QoF by nearly 5% with the average practice earning 1011 points out of the possible […]
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CSC wins £1.9bn contract for North-east and Eastern
Computer Sciences Corporation has been awarded a nine-year contract to take over responsibility for Accenture’s North-east and Eastern regions of the £12bn NHS National Programme for IT. Accenture will continue only as the provider of Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) in the two regions. The consultancy firm will transfer all its other local service […]
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Accenture pulls out of national programme
Accenture has departed from the NHS National Programme for IT, walking away from two contracts worth a total of more than £2bn. The company, which is the second biggest supplier to the national programme, made the announcement before its fourth quarter earnings call today. It is understood that the firm has been unable to reach an agreement with NHS […]
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MHRA target UK illegal drug websites
The Medicines Healthcare and Regulatory Authority have conducted raids on five UK-based websites thought to be selling unlicensed or prescription-only medicines. Officers from the MHRA visited sites in Colchester, Canterbury, Preston, and Harrow and Hayes in Middlesex and seized computer equipment and substances such as ephedrine, a synthetic derivative of amphetamine often sold as […]
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PC Coaching to provide NPfIT mobile training
Mobile training provider PC Coaching has signed a framework agreement with Connecting for Health to be the sole provider of mobile training units (MTUs) and trainers across England for the next two years. The project will focus on helping staff understand and effectively use the new systems being implemented under the National Programme for IT […]
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Autoforwarding to be downgraded in NHSmail
Connecting for Health have announced automatic forwarding from its email service NHSmail to most e-mail addresses – including site-specific NHS addresses ending in ‘nhs.uk’ – will be turned off at the end of the month for security reasons. From 30 September, any automatic forwarding of messages to email addresses outside the government secure network will be […]
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Buckinghamshire goes live with Cerner
Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust has become the third NHS trust in the South of England to begin to use clinical software from Cerner under the £12.4bn National Programme for IT. The Amersham and Wycombe Hospitals, Chalfont & Gerrards Cross Hospital and Marlow Cottage Hospital all went live at eight yesterday morning, after a day of […]
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Patients cannot remember C+B referral options
A total of 80% of patients in Selby and York Primary Care Trust claimed they were not offered a choice of hospital on referral when the Department of Health questioned them for Choose and Book. The results of the survey on 649 patients will reinforce concerns from GPs that patients will fail to recall being […]
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Finance software taken up by 150 trusts
Public Sector Costing Associates Limited (PSCAL) is celebrating signing up its 150th NHS customer to use its Payment by Results and Cost Management Systems. The company was formed in 2002 by IT consultants Sandra Black and Lizo Ngqobongwana, who responded to calls from NHS staff for a system to assist with the National Schedule of […]
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