Put cross here
Renegotiating LSP deals may prove costly
A senior industry analyst has compared the potential cost of renegotiating the NHS’s local service provider contracts, worth £4 billion, to “bailing out the banks”. With the addition of BT’s National Application Service Provider deal for the NHS Spine the total value of contracts to be renegotiated rises to £5 billion. Mike Davis, senior analyst at […]
News
Flu service ‘misses other conditions’
Nine out of 10 GPs believe that diagnosing swine flu over the phone will mean that other diseases may be missed, according to the results of a survey conducted in the last few days. A total of 251 GPs responded to a poll by GP newspaper and 87% said diagnosing swine flu over the telephone […]
News
Data added to clinical indicators
The Department of Health and The NHS Information Centre have published the data for more than 200 indicators against which NHS clinical teams can compare their performance. By typing keywords into a section marked Indicators for Quality Improvement on the IC website, individuals can now assess their performance against the indicators that are most relevant […]
News
Ofcom launches 111 consultation
Ofcom has launched a consultation on the use of a national 111 non-emergency number for healthcare. Following the consultation, the Department of Health plans to pilot the new number and to roll the service out across England. Ofcom, the independent regulator for the UK communications industries, will run the consultation from today, looking at use […]
News
GPs told to harness IT innovation
GP practices are being encouraged to harness innovative IT services to improve the quality of care they deliver to patients. The BMA’s General Practitioner Committee has launched a new publication setting out examples of how GPs have developed services for their patients to inspire others to follow suit. Developing general practice: listening to patients says […]
News
BMA works with NHS Choices on GP ratings
The BMA’s GP committee has confirmed it is working with NHS Choices to enable patients to rate and review their GP practices on the flagship NHS website. The General Practitioner Committee described the concept as a “meaningless popularity contest” in December when the proposed service was announced by health minister Ben Bradshaw but has now […]
News
GP practices urged to share IT experiences
GP representatives want GP practices to share their experiences of how they are using IT and making innovative use of communication technologies to improve services for patients.
News
Personal view: Dr Bhupinder Mangat
Doctors can’t dismiss the power of the internet to enhance patient feedback, says Dr Bhupinder Mangat, a GP in Hounslow.
Feature
Call to scrap ‘illegal’ NHS patient database
A quarter of all government databases, including NHS Detailed Care Records Service and NHS CRS Secondary Uses Service, are illegal and should be scrapped or redesigned, a major new report on government databases has claimed. Serious concerns are also raised about the NHS Summary Care Record Service, and its potential for abuse, with an independent […]
News