Let Pioneers Keep on Pioneering, Says Frank Burns
One of the best known pioneers of IT in the NHS has issued an eloquent plea for trusts that make the running to be allowed to stay ahead while national standards are raised. Frank Burns, chief executive of Wirral Hospital NHS Trust, Merseyside, and one of the principal authors of the 1998 NHS IT strategy, […]
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HC 2003 – Pick of the Product and Service News
Healthcare Computing is a traditional launch pad for healthcare IT products and services and the industry did not disappoint this year. We list below a selection of the new launches, versions and deals announced at Harrogate last week. Click here for a full list of exhibitors. Telemedicine Solutions from Tandberg Tandberg demonstrated its videoconferencing solution, […]
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eMatron – the Ultimate Nursing Boss
With no role out of bounds for the IT revolution, a US healthcare technology provider has devised electronic decision support software which effectively replaces Matron. PR Decision Tools Inc. says that the software – nicknamed eMatron by its UK distributors – will be marketed as Nurse Leader Online. The idea is that hard-pressed hospitals will […]
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Internet Consultations Contribute to Patient Care
Internet consultations between consultants at centres of excellence and referring doctors can contribute to patient care by generating suggestions for new treatments and providing timely access to specialist knowledge, a US study suggests. The researchers at Partners Telemedicine in Boston, writing in the British Medical Journal, evaluated a service called Partners Online Specialty Consultations that […]
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National Programme ‘Mobilises’ for Delivery
The shape of things to come on NHS IT started to become clearer during the course of Healthcare Computing with a series of key announcements made on how and when the NHS IT Programme is moving from its initial ‘mobilisation phase’ to focus on delivery, and the key personnel who will be responsible. Five Local […]
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‘Trust Me’, I’m the Director-General
NHS Director-General of IT Richard Granger this week used his first major public speech to make a personal appeal to the NHS IT community, clinicians and suppliers to rally behind him and back his route map for modernising NHS IT. In a keenly anticipated announcement he told a packed audience at HC 2003 in Harrogate […]
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Torex Acquires UK Operations of IBA Health
Torex PLC has announced a strategic alliance with IBA Health Ltd, the Australian supplier of healthcare information systems. As part of the £7 million deal Torex has also acquired the UK-based Hospital Information Systems operation of IBA and InHealth Solutions. As part of the new alliance Torex is taking an 8% stake in IBA Ltd, […]
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DH Shapes Up National IT Structures
The "Who Does What" debate at the top level of healthcare IT continues but the HC2003 audience at Harrogate this week got a glimpse on the shape of things to come for the NHS Information Authority (NHSIA), the Information Policy Unit (IPU) and the National IT Programme Department of Health (DH) director of research, information […]
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First Anniversary for National IT Programme
Birthday greetings to the NHS National IT Programme! It’s 12 months since a new centrally-driven plan for transforming the NHS through IT was announced at Healthcare Computing 2002. So what illumination can we expect at this year’s event in Harrogate? Word is that it may well be a lot less than people had hoped. The […]
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IBM and Newchurch to build ICRS demonstrator
A contract has been awarded to IBM and Newchurch to develop a prototype primary care shared clinical information service for West Midlands Strategic Health Authority and South Warwickshire Primary Care Trust (PCT). The project, which will be led by IBM, is thought to be the first demonstrator to receive National IT Programme funding. The West […]
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