Patient Communication Systems Launched
Bedside entertainment and communications systems for hospital patients have been officially launched at Kingston Hospitals NHS Trust. The wall-mounted patient terminals have been installed by private firm Patientline. The terminals will enable patients to use the web and email from their hospital beds, watch digital TV, listen to radio, as well as make and receive […]
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NHS 24 Roll-Out Reaches Aberdeen
Malcolm Chisholm, Scotland’s health minister, has confirmed that the roll-out of the NHS 24 , the Scottish version of the English flagship patient helpline NHS Direct, will proceed across Scotland – despite reported teething problems with the pilot project in the North-east. Mr Chisholm made the comments at the launch of the second NHS 24 […]
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Health IT Leaders Welcome Wanless
From being strictly a minority interest healthcare Information and Communication technology (ICT) has suddenly moved to centre stage in British politics. According to leading Health IT figures the challenge is to rapidly deliver systems that provide real benefits to patients. Yesterday’s Budget saw the Government stake its future on delivering dramatic improvements in the NHS, […]
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Switching on Lightbulb
Early birds who rose in time for an HC 2002 breakfast meeting were rewarded with an account of the preparatory work underway on IT for cancer services in Birmingham with Lightbulb, the IT vendors’ group working to produce joined-up healthcare using web-based services. Colin Innes, director of IM&T for Birmingham health authority, told E-Health Insider, […]
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Government Urged to be Patient on Patient Records
The Government should accept that the 2005 target for electronic patient records will be missed and not be panicked into a national big bang approach that could have disastrous consequences for the health service, leading IT suppliers have warned. Having already accepted that the 2002 target for 35% of NHS trusts to have level three […]
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BT to Deliver the Technology for Scotland’s NHS 24
NHS 24, the Scottish version of NHS Direct, has placed a £20.5m contract with BT to provide the telephone communications systems that will underpin the new service and integrate it with electronic patient records. Under the ten-year partnership deal BT will deliver the managed network and IT services that will allow everyone in Scotland to […]
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IT Standardisation Difficult, but Vital
Achieving the “robust, flexible and standardised” NHS information system envisaged by health secretary, Alan Milburn, will be difficult while the service continues to act as a loose federation. That was a key message from a London conference on IT and the NHS Plan. The argument was made most strongly by BT Health’s general manager, David […]
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