NPfIT’s new name already taken
The announcement that the NHS National Programme for IT is to become Connecting for Health appears to have immediately run into teething problems with its chosen name already owned by a US health IT research foundation. A simple Google search reveals that Connecting for Health is a registered service mark of the Markle Foundation www.connectingforhealth.org, […]
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Practices to get choice of any LSP primary care system
In a major change of direction all GP practices in England are to get a choice between all the accredited practice systems offered by any of the four local service providers within the NHS National Programme for IT. In a double announcement the Department of Health will today confirm – as first reported by EHI […]
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Northern Ireland unveils plans for electronic records
Northern Ireland has announced plans to develop its own electronic care record in a move which has led to calls for a UK-wide IT programme. The ten year plan for health and social services information technology in Northern Ireland was announced by Angela Smith, Northern Ireland health minister. Costs for implementing the strategy are estimated […]
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Hutton departure wounded NPfIT, says researcher
Many difficulties suffered by the National Programme for IT can be traced back to when Professor Peter Hutton resigned as chair of the National Clinical Advisory Board (NCAB), according to research being presented at Healthcare Computing 2005. Matthew Guah, a doctoral researcher for the Operations Research & Informations Warwick Business School, insists that many problems […]
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NPfIT to jettison its name…and some suppliers
The National Programme for IT is to change its name to Connecting for Health, NHS IT director-general Richard Granger announced today. Speaking at Healthcare Computing 2005 in Harrogate, Granger explained that Connecting for Health was "what we are about". But the re-branding will not disguise some harsh realities for suppliers to the programme some of […]
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Choose and Book need not stop PBC, say GPC
Concern over Choose and Book should not prevent GPs from getting involved with practice based commissioning, the British Medical Association’s General Practitioner Committee (GPC) has said. The GPC has issued new guidance on practice based commissioning (PBC) in which it says that despite some recently introduced disincentives, including Choose and Book, it believes there are […]
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Only six GP practices connected to NHS Spine
Only six GP practices are currently connected to the national spine, a month after a rapid roll out was expected to have started. The small numbers appear to reflect GPs’ continuing scepticism over whether LSP-hosted services provide additional flexibility and functionality or increased reliability. Accenture has not added another practice to its Spine-connected primary care […]
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A+E staff get feature-packed mobile phones
A&E staff at Birmingham Heartlands and Solihull NHS Trust are trialling PDAs containing a Swiss Army knife range of features including voice recording, video camera, clinical decision support software and medical data, in an effort to cut down on the amount of devices and paperwork they carry. The trial is headed by David Morgan, consultant ENT surgeon […]
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PACS judicial review refused
A legal challenge that had the potential to further delay the signing of PACS contracts in the North East and Eastern clusters has been turned down by the High Court. Fuji Photo Film (UK) Limited had applied for a judicial review of the procurement of PACS systems under the National Programme for IT. An NPfIT […]
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Northern Ireland announces new health IT strategy
Northern Ireland has announced plans to develop its own electronic care record in a move which has led to calls for a UK-wide IT programme. The ten year plan for health and social services information technology in Northern Ireland was announced by Angela Smith, Northern Ireland health minister. One of the main objectives of the […]
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