New clinical lead expresses support for SCR
Personal experience convinced a new national clinical lead (NCL) for Connecting for Health that electronic records were an important future development. Dr Joe McDonald, 46, a consultant at South of Tyne and Wearside, who will be the new NCL for mental health, explained: “Two weeks before our wedding, I got a telephone call from an […]
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Confusion surrounds Summary Care Record
Indecision about the Summary Care Record has led to confusion about its content and purpose, according to a report from MPs. The Health Committee has heavily criticised both the Department of Health and Connecting for Health for confusion about what will be included in the SCR and what the record will be used for. In their enquiry […]
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Lessons learned
Southern England, perhaps more than any other region, has produced a mixed picture of NHS IT modernisation. Senior executives from local service provider, Fujitsu, explain the real situation as they see it.
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Ben Bradshaw becomes minister for NHS IT
The Department of Health has announced that Ben Bradshaw, Labour MP for Exeter, will be the new minister responsible for the National Programme for IT. Bradshaw replaces Lord Hunt, as minister of state for health services. Lord Hunt replaced Lord Warner as the minister responsible for NHS IT and Connecting For Health in January after returning […]
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New NHS information sources unveiled
Two new NHS websites designed to improve information for patients have been unveiled. NHS Choices, to be launched this summer, will offer general information with the aim of making “authoritative and high quality information very much simpler for patients, the public and health professionals to use.” A much more specific internet service offering information about […]
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Researchers warn NPfIT delays risking patient safety
Lack of effective communication and delivery delays are leaving trusts disenfranchised and weakening local commitment to rolling out the National Programme for IT creating risks to patient safety, leading academics have warned. Competing priorities, lack of financial resources and repeated delays in the delivery of new systems are all said to be hindering efforts by […]
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Bristol switches on to online learning
Caroline Plaice, knowledge services manager at North Bristol NHS Trust, outlines how staff are beginning to benefit from a Managed Learning Environment.
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Existing ICT underused, Royal Society finds
A working group that set out to look at future technology in healthcare information and communications technology (ICT) has found that services are not making best use of current technologies. The group, from the prestigious Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, says the NHS is slow to exploit even the simplest existing information and […]
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NHS data ‘not accurate enough’ to assess doctors
NHS hospital episode data is not accurate enough to monitor individual doctors’ performance, according to a pilot study conducted by the Royal College of Physicians’ (RCP) iLab. The pilot allowed doctors to access the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) in England and the Patient Episode Database Wales (PEDW). Both databases include information such as when a […]
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IT staff jobs at risk in cuts to NHS Blood Service
Staff who have been developing and implementing a new blood tracking systems for the NHS Blood Service designed to improve patient safety have told E-Health Insider they have been warned they could soon be out of a job. Two weeks ago, Peter Garwood, head of the NHS Blood Service, announced that the 14 existing centres are […]
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