Hardware upgrades may swallow Choose and Book money
Incentive money for Choose and Book may be spent on upgrading hardware to allow e-booking to work, as primary care trusts face bills of hundreds of thousands of pounds to bring systems up to scratch. Newcastle PCT estimates that it will have to replace around 400 PCs, while other PCTs say that more than half the […]
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Data migration hurdles detailed in leaked report
The complex task of transferring data from existing GP clinical systems into systems supplied under NHS Connecting for Health (CfH) contracts is costing twice as much and taking twice as long in the North East and Eastern clusters compared to London, a confidential report leaked to EHI shows. However, the report also found that the […]
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Choose and Book need not stop PBC, say GPC
Concern over Choose and Book should not prevent GPs from getting involved with practice based commissioning, the British Medical Association’s General Practitioner Committee (GPC) has said. The GPC has issued new guidance on practice based commissioning (PBC) in which it says that despite some recently introduced disincentives, including Choose and Book, it believes there are […]
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BMA queries commissioning and e-booking link
The BMA has criticised technical guidance from the Department of Health (DH) which it says explicitly links the uptake of the Choose and Book, the national electronic booking service, to the new system of practice based commissioning. The association says: “The technical guidance explicitly links the controversial Choose and Book electronic referral system with practice […]
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Practices could get £6,000 for Choose and Book by June
GPs could receive about £6,000 per practice by the end of June this year if their primary care trust meets the Department of Health’s targets for Choose and Book, according to implementation details. Strategic health authority chief executives have been sent more details of the £95 million package which was announced by health secretary John […]
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Health and Social Care chief talks about year ahead
Bob Allen, interim chief executive of the new Information Centre for Health and Social Care, has spoken to E-Health Insider about the centre’s responsibilities when it comes into being as a special authority on 1 April, 2005. The centre takes over some of the role of the NHS Information Authority, which is to be disbanded […]
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End 2005 will see NPfIT making a difference for all
National Programme for IT’s (NPfIT) director-general, Richard Granger has predicted that by the end of next year there won’t be a ‘nook or cranny’ of the NHS in England that has not seen some work from the programme that will be making a difference to caring for patients. Speaking to a briefing ahead of the Clinical Information […]
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Halligan: “Connection” goal of IT reform
Aidan Halligan, deputy chief medical officer and director general of strategic development for the National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT), has declared that his ultimate goal is to make connections between “clinicians, patients and the totality of health and social care resources” in a "community of knowledge". “Connection is at the core of our vision […]
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Disclosure: a key issue for Caldicott Guardians in 2004
The UK’s 1,000 plus Caldicott Guardians, champions for data protection in the NHS and social care, have a packed agenda for 2004 and a new group, the UK Council of Caldicott Guardians, to support them. E-Health Insider talked to the NHS Information Authority’s guardian, DrJanine Brooks, who is helping to set up the council . Speaking […]
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Breast cancer and nurse prescribing websites sold
Cambridge University Press has bought two healthcare websites – Breast Cancer Online and Nurse Prescriber as part of an acquisition of Greenwich Medical Media Limited. Breast Cancer Online, with 17,000 registered users, is a peer-reviewed educational site covering new trends and topical information on breast cancer for healthcare professionals. Nurse Prescriber addresses the market opened […]
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