Three PCTs decline London’s ‘interim’ community system
Three primary care trusts in London have declined to take the ‘interim’ RiO community system being offered by BT due to concerns about its limited clinical functionality and the high costs of implementation they would face. Individual community and mental health trusts face implementation costs of up to £500,000 and the prospect of having to […]
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Don’t panic about June C+B deadline, GPs told
GPs’ lead negotiator on IT has advised GPs not to worry about the June target for Choose and Book in a month which he said would be the “biggest test since inception” for the e-booking system. The advice follows concern from local medical committees that it will be impossible for many practices to achieve the […]
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Fujitsu plans next four go-lives in South by August
The dates for further NHS sites to go live with new Cerner clinical systems from Fujitsu under the NHS National Programme for IT have slipped again, with further go-lives now not expected until July and August. Following the initial fraught implementation at Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre NHS Trust a lot of attention has focused on when further […]
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Virgin to upgrade telemedicine across fleet
Virgin Atlantic is to install telemedicine equipment on board all of its aircraft after signing a deal with British hardware company Remote Diagnostic Technologies. The system, which is designed for small spaces, will use the plane’s satellite telephone to communicate with medical professionals on the ground. The Tempus system (below), which is designed to be […]
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Not all patients exercise choice, claims study
The government’s choice agenda risks increasing inequalities because some groups of patients are more heavily influenced by clinical performance than others, according to a health department-commissioned report. The study from the King’s Fund, Understanding Patients’ Choices at the Point of Referral, found that patients with formal educational qualifications were more likely to choose hospitals with higher […]
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Nuffield’s IT upgrade lengthened waiting times
Details of the problems caused by the implementation of a new computer system at Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Oxfordshire, were yesterday reported to include increased waiting list times for patients. According to the Sunday Times, the implementation of the Cerner Millennium system by Fujitsu at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre NHS Trust in Oxford, a small specialist orthopaedic […]
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IBM to develop pandemic software with WHO
IBM’s research division has announced that they are to collaborate with the World Health Organisation in supplying software to help combat and predict pandemics. IBM have promised to develop two systems; an Interoperable Healthcare Information Infrastructure – a technology to help clinicians and researchers share information and health data on infectious diseases. Big Blue will […]
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Senior GPs say CfH response on security ‘encouraging’
The two senior GP representatives in the UK are writing to GP practices to outline “the encouraging response” they have received from Connecting for Health (CfH) over concerns about security issues with the personal demographic service (PDS). The letter from Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee and Dr Mayur Lakhani, […]
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iSoft sells off Swiss operations
Health IT software firm iSoft has sold its operations in Switzerland to Nexus, a local provider of healthcare IT solutions, for £2.25m Swiss Francs (£1m). The Manchester-based company says the move will enable it to "focus on other priorities in the short term". The most pressing of these priorities is delivering its late-running next generation […]
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Online medicines library gets revamp
The National electronic Library for Medicine, which collects online news and RSS feeds on medicines information, is set to expand into a personalised portal, featuring both regional and national medicines news. The NeLM, which was first launched under the title DrugInfoZone is funded by the National electronic Library for Health. The site sifts and collates […]
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