PHCSG urges ‘extreme caution’ on QoF data use
White paper proposals to use Quality and Outcomes Framework data to make commissioning decisions should only be followed with extreme caution, the Primary Health Care Specialist Group (PHCSG) of the British Computer Society has warned. The PHCSG says the QoF database held on the Quality Management and Analysis System (QMAS) has been collected purely for […]
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Fame claims online milestone in children’s services
A website set up to promote collaboration in multi-agency working, particularly around children’s services, has said that it has reached a milestone in traffic, now receiving 1,000 unique visitors per month. The Framework for Multi-Agency Environments (FAME) website www.fame-uk.org is a national project set up with support from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister […]
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Tunstall releases telecare guidance notes
Telecare company Tunstall has released a series of guides that aim to show how telecare devices can be used to support the National Service Framework for older people, as well as specific ideas for dementia care and learning disabilities. The guides, which are available on the Tunstall website, show examples of how devices such […]
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NHS 24 cuts numbers of ‘call-backs’
Scotland’s health advice helpline NHS 24 has reduced the percentage of ‘call-backs’ to patients to less than 20% from a high of more than 50%, tackling a key area identified by an independent review of the service last year. The health advice and information service says figures for January show that ‘call backs’ to patients, […]
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EPS pilot to restart after early glitch
One of England’s first electronic prescription service (EPS) pilots has been shut down for more than a month because of problems with the GP clinical system supplier’s software. Brigstock Pharmacy in Croydon, South London, began to receive prescriptions from its neighbouring GP practice in December but the pilot had to be halted because the practice’s […]
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White paper outlines IT role in community services
Patients will be able to complete an online self-assessment of their health and send it electronically to their GP to be stored as part of their record, under plans outlined in this week’s white paper on care outside hospital. The white paper, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say: A New Direction for Community Services, outlines a […]
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GPs highlight “clunky” functionality of C+B
The Choose and Book system is "clunky and cumbersome" and slower than the paper-based referral mechanism it is intended to replace, according to GPs. In a survey of 40 practices undertaken by the GP magazine Pulse, respondents complained of lack of standardisation and speed of the internet browser-based software. Dr Patrick Clarke, a GP in […]
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Public-private venture ‘to improve access’ to info
Dr Foster, a commercial provider of healthcare information, and the NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre have formed a new public-private partnership with the aim of improving public access to information. Dr Foster Intelligence is the name chosen for the new venture which, the partners say, will combine commercial acumen from the private sector […]
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Meet the suppliers: TPP
In the first article of a series, EHI Primary Care travels to Leeds to spend a day with TPP, the alternative primary care supplier for the North-east and Eastern cluster.
Feature
MoD to announce EHR contract next year
The MoD will award a contract to build an electronic medical record system that will be used across the whole armed services in the early part of next year, E-Health Insider has learned. Two groups headed by IBM and Logica CMG are building separate electronic medical record systems for the Defence Medical Information Capability Programme […]
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