Ealing and Southend-on-Sea start patient txt messaging
Mobile messaging firm iPlato has announced that practices from two more primary care trusts in England have started using its Patient Care Messaging system. Integrated into the underlying practice patient administration and clinical system, iPLATO’s Patient Care Messaging service enables easy text messaging with patients around appointments and specialised clinics, helping tackle did not attend […]
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Choose and Book ‘will be a year late’
The flagship Choose and Book electronic booking application will be at least a year late by the time it is rolled out across England NHS chief executive, Sir Nigel Crisp, said yesterday. Speaking to the House of Commons public accounts committee (PAC) he said that patients would still be offered a choice of four or […]
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Appointment reminders mistaken for ‘scam’
A Scottish scheme using automated calling to contact patients and remind them of their hospital appointments has been withdrawn after just two days because patients thought the calls were a scam. The project in NHS Dumfries and Galloway used an automated system to phone patients the night before their appointment and leave a recorded message […]
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Private hospitals sign Choose and Book deal
The largest provider of private hospital services in the UK has signed a deal for e-booking software that will be Choose and Book compliant. BMI Healthcare, which has 49 hospitals in the UK, has placed an order with Belgium based IT company UltraGenda for UltraGenda Pro, UG Contacts Store and UG Broka which includes its […]
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Every PCT to miss Choose and Book target
The Department of Health (DH) has admitted that not a single primary care trust in England is likely to be in a position to meet its next Choose and Book target and is relying on paper solutions to deliver its flagship policy on choice at referral. Just over 6,000 bookings have been made through Choose […]
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Hospital reports over 2,600 e-referrals per month
The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is receiving over 2,600 electronic referrals a month using software that slots into Microsoft Word and replaces the print button, according to manufacturers Medisec. The e-referral system links 33 surgeries in northwest England and Wales to the hospital. GPs send the referrals to the hospital using a ‘Send […]
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GP negotiators considering extra C+B incentives
GP representatives and the health department’s pay negotiators are looking at ways that GPs can be paid through the GMS contract for taking on Choose and Book. The government’s key NHS policy on patient choice is dependent on the widespread uptake of Choose and Book but so far very few GPs have been prepared to […]
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Communication key to cutting missed appointments
A new survey of GP surgeries by health education charity Developing Patient Partnerships and the Institute of Healthcare Management indicates 10 million GP appointments a year being missed as well as around 5 million practice nurse appointments. DPP estimates the cost of missed GP appointments at £180 million per years, based on each appointment […]
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A new era of choice?
Sean Riddell, deputy managing director of EMIS, examines the current climate five months after the DH announced it would allow GPs a choice of systems in CfH.
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18,000 GPs registered for care records
The number of NHS staff registered to eventually use the national NHS Care Records Service (NHS CRS), when it becomes available, has trebled in the past two months and by the beginning of August stood at 75,216. According to figures obtained by E-Health Insider by the beginning of August there were 18,981 GPs registered to […]
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