Dr Foster Intelligence free trial offered to GPs
Health information firm Dr Foster Intelligence is making hospital referral data in its practice based commissioning tool available free to GPs for a 30 day trial period. The company’s online practice based commissioning software provides GPs with activity data and financial statements for their practices plus benchmarking data for other practices in the same primary […]
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iSoft restates accounts and axes 150 jobs
Healthcare software company iSoft has seen its shares tumble to a new low, on the back of an announcement this morning that it expects full-year revenue and profit to be significantly lower than expected due to a change in accounting policy. The resulting restatement of accounts will result in the elimination of £165m of historic […]
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Enfield PCT back to paper after computer failure
A London PCT has had to switch off its computer system and start recording patients’ details with pen and paper while it waits for a replacement to be delivered by the NHS IT programme. Enfield Primary Care Trust has switched off its two ageing iSoft PiMS patient administration systems, after experiencing frequent problems and interruptions to the service — including outages […]
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LMCs to discuss “threat to civil liberties” from data spine
GPs are to call for their confidentiality concerns over the NHS Care Records Service to be resolved before any further progress is agreed on implementing the National Programme for IT, at next week’s local medical committees’ conference. Motions to the conference include several highlighting concerns over the confidentiality of patient information on the spine, further […]
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Communication problems beset 7 July response
The emergency services and the London Ambulance Service in particular need to review its communication strategies and equipment in order to cope with major incidents such as the 7 July bombing, a report by the London Assembly has concluded. The use of mobile telephones to communicate between senior staff and the inability to communicate underground […]
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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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