Choose and Book leaders answer their critics
Leaders of the Choose and Book programme this week attempted to answer concerns raised by GP representatives about the security and confidentiality of the new system. Medical director of Choose and Book, Professor Michael Thick, told a press conference that information passing through the booking process was treated with higher levels of confidentiality that those […]
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CRDB conference stokes debate on patient awareness
E-Health Insider reports on the Care Records Development Board’s first conference, in London, which aimed to address the tough questions on patient confidentiality and public knowledge of electronic health records. “I think we have a job on our hands," observed the chair of the National Programme for IT’s Care Records Development Board (CRDB), surveying […]
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GPC says key questions unresolved on Choose and Book
The General Practitioner Committee (GPC) of the British Medical Association has written to GPs advising them that it has serious concerns about Choose and Book, the national electronic appointment booking service, relating to the confidentiality and security of patient information and workload and resource implications of the new system. In a cautionary guidance note issued […]
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New QOF software to hide data, but not for all GPs
NPfIT has developed software that automatically anonymises GP electronic patient records for audit by primary care organisations under the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), in response to concerns over confidentiality from the BMA – but it will not work with all practices. The program, QOF Assessor Toolkit, will connect with the majority of GP software, […]
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Choose and Book faces potential “show stoppers”
Implementation of Choose and Book (CaB), the national electronic appointment booking service, is experiencing serious teething problems with only a very basic, stand alone “naked" version of the e-booking application used so far. One of the pilot sites in Barnsley is understood to have put a freeze on using the main CaB application due to concerns […]
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Life outside NPfIT: Wales
In the first part of a series, E-Health Insider looks at the developments in healthcare IT in Wales, under the Informing Healthcare programme.
Feature
New Caldicott guardian for national programme
The National Programme for IT (NPfIT) has appointed the head of its digital information policy team, Phil Walker, as its Caldicott guardian. He will take responsibility for all data protection and information processing advice. A spokesperson for the national programme confirmed to EHI: “The main focus of his work will be NPfIT, but drawing a distinction […]
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Agfa set to replace GE on PACS in North East and Eastern
Three months after health minister John Hutton announced the award of Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) contracts for the five National Programme for IT (NPfIT) clusters, it now seems certain that contracts for at least two clusters will now be awarded to Agfa rather than GE Medical Systems as originally thought. An NPfIT spokesperson […]
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Doctors’ support for NPfIT tailing off, says survey
A new survey has revealed that doctors’ support for the aims of the national programme has fallen to 54% from 65% in February, and that the majority of them are still in the dark about its aims. In their biannual poll of doctors, Medix UK asked 400 GPs and 450 hospital doctors about their attitudes to the […]
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ETP might have blocked Shipman, inquiry says
Electronic transfer of prescriptions (ETP) could have stopped Dr Shipman from prescribing controlled drugs for so long without anybody noticing, the most recent Shipman Inquiry report has found. As long as ETP was made secure, and “all prescriptions, both private and NHS, were recorded on the common spine, there could be greatly improved regulation of controlled drugs,” […]
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