PCTs urged to move C+B from centres to practices
Primary care trusts are being encouraged to dismantle referral management centres that handle Choose and Book so that the work can be carried out in general practice. Some referral management centres or clinical assessment services (CAS) currently handle the entire Choose and Book process including discussing choice options and generating the password required for Choose […]
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PHCSG urges ‘extreme caution’ on QoF data use
White paper proposals to use Quality and Outcomes Framework data to make commissioning decisions should only be followed with extreme caution, the Primary Health Care Specialist Group (PHCSG) of the British Computer Society has warned. The PHCSG says the QoF database held on the Quality Management and Analysis System (QMAS) has been collected purely for […]
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Two new PCT reporting tools launched
Two new web-based reporting tools to help primary care trusts and GPs deliver practice–based commissioning have been launched. Medical data firm Dr Foster Intelligence says its PBC tool will provide GPs with activity and financial statements as well as benchmarking data with information for all trusts in England and many independent sector treatment centres. Another PBC […]
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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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Middlesbrough PCT offers reporting software for free
Middlesbrough PCT has developed a browser-based statistical reporting system for Practice Based Commissioning and is making it available for free to any other PCT. The Middlesbrough PCT Information, Data and Statistics (MIDAS) programme allows GPs and practice managers to see visual representations of a large number of statistics, including inpatient and outpatient activity, payment by […]
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GP2GP record transfer is NPfIT’s ‘most wanted’
GP2GP patient record transfer is the service that GPs would most like to see delivered by the National Programme for IT, according to a survey carried out this month. A total of 390 GPs took part in the online survey conducted by GP system supplier In Practice Systems which asked GPs to rate which NPfIT […]
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Rant or rate?
A NHS-backed social software project is helping patients give feedback online directly to healthcare organisations, finds Fiona Barr.
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DES payments to GPs for IM&T work unveiled
Preparation for the National Programme for IT could earn practices £1.33 per patient next year under the new payment scheme for GPs. Details of the directed enhanced service (DES) for information management and technology, first announced in December, have been released as part of a 219-page guidance document on changes to the nGMS contract from April. As […]
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New timetable for trusts to switch to XML for CRS data
NHS Connecting for Health has outlined a new timetable for changing the way in which data is sent to the NHS Care Records Service. Its latest guidance indicates that from July 2006 trusts will need to begin submitting their commissioning data sets to the CRS’s Secondary Uses Services in XML. Trusts will need to phase […]
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CfH due for restructuring in DH shuffle
NHS Connecting for Health (CfH) has signalled that it will undergo restructuring later this year as part of a wider reorganisation in the Department of Health. An announcement from CfH, which is currently designated as an agency of the Department of Health, says that the precise nature of the organisation and of the associated governance […]
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