MPs call for review of NHS IT programme costs
Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat MP for Westmoreland & Lonsdale, has stepped up his campaign for an independent review of the costing on the National Programme for IT. Farron, who earlier last month initiated an early day motion asking for a full, independent investigation of NPfIT’s finances, told Parliament that he believed the level of spending […]
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Digital hospital
EHI looks at how a futuristic hospital in Norway can show what benefits an integrated approach to communications can bring to patient care.
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Connecting for Health fails to lead on Contact
NHS Connecting for Health continues to run its own local version of Microsoft Exchange rather than migrating to NHS Contact, the web-based e-mail service it procured for the health service at a total cost of up to £90m. At Healthcare Computing 2006 last month CfH chief executive Richard Granger castigated NHS trusts for not fully […]
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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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No pleasure in Accenture losses, says Granger
Richard Granger, NHS director-general of IT, jokingly told conference delegates today that the $450m losses one of his prime contractors, Accenture, announced this week against its National Programme for IT contracts would be sufficient for the firm to hire “every Bulgarian hit man to take me out”. Speaking at the World Health Congress, Paris, he said that […]
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NHS IT spending lags behind Wanless targets
Forecasts from trade association, Intellect, suggest that NHS spending on IT in England is likely to undershoot significantly the figure needed to achieve service transformation and support greater efficiency and patient safety, a session at HC2006 heard. The panel discussion led by the Intellect Healthcare Group looked at Intellect forecasts which show actual NHS spending […]
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COPD in Carlisle
Wendy McLellan of Tunstall explains how a telecare project for COPD in Carlisle is helping keep reduce costs through proactive patient management.
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St Mary’s goes live with JAC pharmacy management
St Mary’s NHS Trust has become the second trust in London to go live with a new pharmacy management system from JAC Computer Services Ltd, supplied by BT Capital Care Alliance. The new pharmacy system has been supplied to the trust as an additional service by BT CCA, the local service provider for the NHS […]
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Strong growth projected in French health ICT
A new analysis of the French health ICT market published by Frost and Sullivan argues that an increased emphasis on patient safety will provide the drive for new ICT investments, particularly for clinical systems. The report says that the increasing use of ICT in the healthcare sector is anticipated to help avoid medical errors, improve […]
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Unravelling cable
Getting your structured cabling in order is important to installing new IT systems on any site, argues Rosemary McGlashon from 3M.
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