EPR at the Heart of NHS Redesign
Electronic patient records (EPRs) are good news for NHS organisations and patients, but recent academic research by the NHS Confederation’s Matthew Batchelor found that many organisations are facing significant barriers to their implementation. In an exclusive article for E-Health Insider, Batchelor summarises his key findings. The research, undertaken in autumn 2001, focused mainly on acute […]
News
New Quality Mark Launched for Health Information
A new website and "Triangle Mark" have been launched by the Centre for Health Information Quality (C-H-i-Q’s) to help raise standards for online and offline health information. The new site Hi Quality, has been backed by Department of Health funding , and was developed as part of C-H-i-Q’s quality assurance programme, recently implemented across all […]
News
Mobile Health Alliance to Launch in Europe
European healthcare providers, clinicians and technology firms involved in developing mobile healthcare applications and technologies are to be invited to join a European Mobile Health Alliance to be launched in May. The new European body is to be established as the European arm of MoHCA (Mobile Healthcare Alliance), a non-for-profit association dedicated to promoting the […]
News
NHS Scotland Launches Updated IT Strategy
An updated IT strategy for the NHS in Scotland has been launched which aims to cut the 10m pieces of paperwork exchanged between GP practices and hospitals in Scotland. The new strategy will be supported by £2m in new funding for next year, on top of the £50m already committed over three years. The investment […]
News
Government Response to Kennedy Throws Spotlight on Information
A new Office of Information on Health Care Performance is to be set up as part of the government response to the Kennedy Report’s recommendations. The new office will be positioned within the Commission for Health Improvement and will publish “star” ratings to compare the performance of NHS organisations against national targets. Other key measures […]
News
UK Government Warms to Open Source Software
The Cabinet Office has published a consultation paper on use of Open Source Software (OSS) within the UK Government sector –- including the NHS — that concludes the development of OSS represents a fundamental change in the software market. OSS, software whose source code is openly published, is usually available at no charge, and is […]
News
US Alliance to Promote Electronic Medical Records
Leading US doctor, hospital and consumer groups have formed the Patient Safety Institute (PSI), a major new collaborative initiative designed to harness and integrate secure IT systems to improve patient safety and healthcare quality, The aim is to develop a confidential computer network, based on open standards, to electronically link medical records so doctors can […]
News
Gates Says NHS Must Deliver in Digital Age
It’s not every day that you get to see the richest man in the world, and the gawp factor must have accounted for a good number of the 150-odd NHS chief executives and directors that attended last week’s Microsoft-sponsored Department of Health IT conference. But the man from Redmond offered them little in way of […]
News
Computer Motion Recieves $2m Grant for Telesurgery Training
Computer Motion, Inc., the world’s leading developer of surgical robotic systems, has been awarded a $2m research and development grant from the US Department of Commerce, and National Institute of Standards (NIST) to combine surgical robotic systems with telemedicine to train surgeons in new procedures. According to the NIST grant proposal the potential market opportunity […]
News
Online Toolkit Aids GP Appraisals
An online toolkit to help GPs through the appraisals process was demonstrated at the EMIS National User Group conference at Warwick University. The Appraisals Toolkit at http://www.appraisals.nhs.uk, developed at the Sowerby Centre for Health Informatics in Newcastle (SCHIN), was presented by GP education lead, Dr Paul Robinson, who explained that the aim was to provide […]
News