Johnson steps up pressure on 0844 numbers
Health secretary Alan Johnson has stepped up the pressure on practices using 0844 telephone numbers as campaigners draw up a list of more than 800 surgeries with such numbers. The health secretary, who is MP for Hull and Hessle West, criticised the use of 0844 numbers in his local paper as the Department of Health’s […]
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Patient information: how ICTs can help
Fiona Barr looks at the role information technology can play in providing greater information for patients.
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Report advises annual QoF negotiation
The National Audit Office has advised the Department of Health to renegotiate the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) every year and allocate a percentage of QoF points for local negotiation. In a 57 page report on the new contractual arrangements for GPs, NHS Pay Modernisation: New Contracts for General Practice Services in England, the NAO […]
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CSC yet to sign GPSoC contract
CSC has yet to sign its contract with Connecting for Health to take part in the GP Systems of Choice initiative, just five weeks before the majority of practices are expected to switch to the scheme. CSC plans to supply TPP’s SystmOne under GPSoC and was one of eight IT suppliers selected by CfH last […]
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PbR held back by NHS data failures
A new report into the progress of Payment by Results (PbR) has concluded that problems with the quality and timeliness of data remain significant barriers to the policy having more impact on NHS activity and efficiency. The Audit Commission report, The Right Result,singles out the Secondary Uses Service (SUS), developed by NHS Connecting for Health and […]
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Private GP providers’ technology
The private providers winning contracts to run general practices have information technology close to the top of their agendas, Fiona Barr reports.
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Six firms shortlisted for £80m NHS Choices contract
Six companies have reportedly been shortlisted to run the Department of Health’s NHS Choices website, following an OJEU tender process, which came to an end in December. According to HSJ magazine, the six shortlisted companies bidding for the three year, £80m contract, include the current provider Dr Foster Intelligence, the current provider, and much larger […]
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Southern contract reset deadline up
The deadline set for completing the contract reset in the South of England has expired without agreement being reached. At the beginning of the current reset process, July 31 2007, January was set as the deadline in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between local service provider Fujitsu and the Southern Programme for IT (SPfIT). However, […]
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Practices use of 0844 numbers to be investigated
The government is to gather evidence about the use of 0844 telephone numbers by GP practices and its impact on patients, ahead of a possible clampdown on their use. Health minister Ivan Lewis told a House of Commons debate that GPs making use of 0844 numbers should consider whether it is “best professional practice” to […]
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Over 40 per cent of practices say PBC data poor
More than 40% of GP practices believe the information they receive for practice based commissioning (PBC) is poor or very poor, according to the latest Department of Health survey. The second quarterly survey of practices for 2007/8 shows little improvement since the survey was carried out three months earlier. A total of 41%, of the 1,398 […]
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