Feature: Using information effectively
The Nuffield Trust and the Commission for Health Improvement have both highlighted the need for the NHS to improve its use of information. Stephen Pincock investigates. When the Nuffield Trust published its latest report on the government’s efforts to improve quality in the NHS, the verdict was painted in broadly upbeat strokes. But […]
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Disclosure: a key issue for Caldicott Guardians in 2004
The UK’s 1,000 plus Caldicott Guardians, champions for data protection in the NHS and social care, have a packed agenda for 2004 and a new group, the UK Council of Caldicott Guardians, to support them. E-Health Insider talked to the NHS Information Authority’s guardian, DrJanine Brooks, who is helping to set up the council . Speaking […]
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Granger says final LSP contract will come when ‘right’
The final local service provider (LSP) contract for the South of England will be signed in the New Year, when suppliers have "responded to treatment", says NHS IT director-general Richard Granger. In a short interview with E-Health Insider on the day that two of the remaining three LSP contracts were signed Granger said he was […]
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Apollo partners with Microtest
Apollo Medical Systems Ltd have announced an agreement with Microtest Ltd, an IT supplier to the primary health care market, which will see Microtest use Apollo’s remote audit toolkit A3 in Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). A3 will form Microtest’s preferred solution for PCTs to enable them to meet the information requirements set out in the […]
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Gershon says NHS national programme is inherently ‘risky’
Peter Gershon, chief executive of the Treasury’s Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has described the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in the NHS as inherently risky and ambitious. The comments came as part of his oral evidence to the powerful House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on purchasing and management of software licences in […]
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South Tees NHS Trust buys spinal injuries record system
The North of England Regional Spinal Cord Injuries Centre at The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesborough, part of South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust, has just signed a contract with IMS MAXIMS plc for an integrated clinical record system. The purpose-built Regional Spinal Injuries Centre, which opened in 2002, serves a population of approximately 3.5 million […]
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NAO Begins Review of National Programme
The National Audit Office has begun reviewing aspects of the £2.3 billion NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT) after having been contacted by a number of correspondents raising issues of concern. A spokesperson for the NAO told E-Health Insider confirmed that the NAO has already established contact with the national programme and that high-level face-to-face […]
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XML Special Focus: Unblocking Beds
Bed blocking is an issue faced by every acute hospital. At Queen Alexandra Hospital in the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, audit figures revealed that over 40% of beds were occupied by non-acute patients and that only 27% of the hospital’s occupied bed days were used for dealing with essential acute medical treatment. To address the […]
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XML Special Focus: Supporting Clinical Governance
Support for clinical audit and improved clinical governance is one of the great advances promised by electronic medical record systems but they usually require clinicians to shoehorn their thoughts and opinions about a patient into pre-determined formats. Free text, so the received wisdom goes, cannot be analysed. To produce information of the quality needed for […]
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Data Improvements Essential to Make GP Monitoring Work
Researchers at Imperial College London have devised a system for monitoring mortality rates which could help to alert authorities to crimes such as the murders committed by GP Harold Shipman and also provide useful feedback on the overall quality of care. However, they caution that data quality improvement is essential. The study, published in the […]
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