Choose and Book gets upgraded
Atos Origin has announced that it has implemented the latest in a series of upgrades to the national NHS electronic booking systems known as Choose and Book system, being provided under the Connecting for Health programme. The upgrade announcement came in the same week that CfH said that over 3m appointments have been made through […]
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Atos Origin’s £257m DH diagnostics contract suspended
A £257m contract for diagnostic services in North-west and South-west England awarded to Atos Origin last December has been suspended after the Department of Health (DH) ordered an independent review following concerns about quality and administrative procedures. Atos Origin had been working with eight PCTs in the North-west since December but some ultrasound and MRI scan […]
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NHS Scotland signs £300m deal with Atos Origin Alliance
A consortia lead by Atos Origin has been awarded a £300m contract to be NHS Scotland’s Information Management and Technology Support Services Partner for the next 11 years. The contract covers the supply, administration and management of both the national and some local IT services to NHS Boards across Scotland. The agreement will start from […]
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MP quizzes Blair on national programme money
An opposition MP has asked for Prime Minister Tony Blair’s personal assurance that public money has not been given to companies involved in the National Programme for IT that have not delivered, naming iSoft as an example. Speaking at Prime Minister’s Question Time, Richard Bacon, Conservative MP for South Norfolk, said: “Would the Prime Minister […]
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CfH may hand money back to Treasury
While many NHS trusts are thought to be struggling to achieve financial balance, NHS Connecting for Health, the Department of Health agency running health service IT programme is believed to be in the unusual position of handing money back to Treasury. In total NHS CfH is thought to be up to £700m underspent in 2005-2006, against […]
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Fujitsu wins CfH support contract
NHS Connecting for Health has awarded Fujitsu the contract to supply its national front line service support desk. The contract, which will last until 2013, will require Fujitsu to set up four call centres in Wakefield, Stevenage, Manchester and Foots Cray in Kent. They will manage an estimated four million calls per year. The support desks […]
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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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NAO finds Choose and Book running late
Technical problems, delays in delivering upgrades and failure to engage GPs means the roll-out of Choose and Book, the national electronic appointment booking system, is behind schedule and, at best, will only offer 60-70% availability by the end of 2005. As a result the Government target to deliver patient choice by the end of the […]
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Six new companies brought under NPfIT banner
The National Programme for IT have announced six new “enterprise-wide" agreements between suppliers of software and hardware infrastructure and services, saving an estimated £30m on market price figures for the project and the NHS in general. Cisco, EMC Computer Systems, Hewlett Packard, SeeBeyond and Sun will supply a number of backup, infrastructure and migration services […]
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Blair: Choose and Book historic development
Tony Blair has defended the development of the NHS’s Choose and Book programme, the new name for the new NHS e-booking service, at Prime Minister’s question time as the deadline for the first live e-booking looms closer. Speaking on 16 June, Blair said: "It is this government, for the first time in the context of […]
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