Troubled child health system to be replaced
NHS Connecting for Health (CfH) looks set to replace an interim child health information system deployed in London last year and has already halted plans to extend it to include a community module. It has also emerged in a leaked letter, seen by E-Health Insider Primary Care, that a review of the problematic system has revealed […]
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Peer podcasts for doctors’ forum
Health minister Lord Warner has recorded his first ever podcast with doctors’ network Doctors.net.uk, answering questions placed to him by forum users. He answered questions on the Modernising Medical Careers recruitment reforms, NHS finances and headline jobs cuts, the growth in independent treatment centres and the future of IT in the NHS. "All healthcare systems across […]
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Computer therapy to help patients back to work
Ultrasis’s Beating the Blues, a computerised cognitive behavourial therapy software package designed to offer drug-free treatment to patients with depression, is to be used in a government to help people on incapacity benefit back to work. Beating the Blues will be used in two areas in the northwest of England, Lancashire and Liverpool & […]
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Birmingham Children’s loses sight of appointments
Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Trust has become the latest trust to experience problems after Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) installed new remotely-hosted patient administration system (PAS) software supplied by iSoft. Following a software upgrade to its new PAS system, outpatient appointment data for 800 children became unviewable to staff using the day clinic module of the […]
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PCT achieves 87% C+B referrals with flexible system
A primary care trust (PCT) has achieved the highest take up of Choose and Book in the country by allowing practices to send Choose and Book information through the post. The “medical secretary” model used by all PCTs in Somerset has helped GP practices in Somerset Coast PCT make 87% of referrals through Choose and […]
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Doctors test out RFID system for handovers
Doctors at the Birmingham’s Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust are testing the use of RFID technology for patient handovers. David Morgan, consultant ENT surgeon at the trust, who is also surgical safety adviser to the National Patient Safety Agency, explained the system to the Clinical Care Computing conference in London last week. Birmingham Heartlands […]
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Web clinic gains Healthcare Commission registration
An online sexual health clinic that offers postal testing and email consultations is claiming to be the first online medical service to be registered by the Healthcare Commission. DrThom is a private clinic and was set up four years ago by Dr Thomas Van Every, who works in an NHS sexual health clinic in […]
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Lewisham PCT chooses iPlato for SMS reminders
A primary care trust is hoping to reduce missed GP practice appointments by 25% in a year with the aid of a text messaging service. Lewisham PCT has signed a deal with mobile healthcare applications specialist iPlato to use its Patient Care Messaging solution for patients at seven surgeries across the trust. Patients will be […]
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iSoft’s financial troubles mount
Troubled UK health IT software firm iSoft was plunged into further financial crisis on Friday after it announced it had again delayed publication of its full year results because it had been unable to conclude negotiations with its banks. The indications are that iSoft has been unable to complete renegotiation with its banks while its […]
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North Staffs announces ‘big bang’ implementation
University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust has started its trust-wide ‘big bang’ implementation of a new iSoft patient administration system, together with specialist clinical systems as part of its move towards an electronic patient record. Several of the trust’s legacy systems, many of which were bespoke, have now been replaced in PAS A&E, theatre, maternity, clinical […]
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