Cash injection
After GE’s purchase of IDX, are more medical systems companies eyeing up the healthcare IT market? Industry analyst James MacPherson investigates.
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Electronic records ‘a first step’ to knowledge-based care
Electronic records are just the first step in harnessing information and communication technology to improve clinical care – the real prize will come when clinicians can be provided with knowledge and the information tools to support their decisions. The huge challenge and potential gains of connecting clinical records with knowledge bases, was the theme taken […]
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Wirral’s gateway to care
Pete Marsh, technical director of Wirral Health Informatics, outlines the needs and obstacles often not considered by those implementing clinical IT systems.
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NHS Direct may lack capacity to handle OOH calls
NHS Direct may have insufficient capacity to manage out of hours (OOH) care in the integrated fashion envisaged by the government, researchers have concluded. In 2000, a review of OOH care recommended integrating calls made to general practitioners outside surgery hours with NHS Direct. The idea was that patients’ calls would be routed directly to […]
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Forrest answers NPfIT communication concerns
Martyn Forrest, Regional Implementation Director (RID) for the North East cluster and acting RID for London, has promised to look into concerns about communication between local and national implementation structures. Speaking at the Health and Social Care Exchange conference in London this week, Forrest also promised to look into audience concerns that solutions to […]
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E-health and the EU
The UK’s presidency of the EU promises to be a significant one for e-health, Lyn Whitfield reports.
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Better information and IT in view for kidney care
IT to support primary care staff whose work includes prevention of and treatment for kidney disease is a key component of the new Renal Services Information Strategy published this week. The information strategy has been designed to support Part 2 of the National Service Framework (NSF) for Renal Services dealing with chronic kidney disease (CKD), […]
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Judge for yourself
Do electronic health records have any force in law? American correspondent Neil Versel reports from the TEPR conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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NHS Direct software may expand abroad after buyout
The firm that supplies the decision support software which forms the basis of the NHS Direct, NHS Direct Wales and Scotland’s NHS 24 telephone-based triage systems has been acquired by a consortium of investment companies, with the view of expanding overseas. CAS Services Ltd, the software company that has been supplying the ‘back end’ of […]
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Computer use embedded in new doctors’ curriculum
The use of modern IT systems and a willingness to use and learn about new technology have been included as core components of the new curriculum for junior doctors. Under the new trainee doctors will have to demonstrate they are competent in a number of areas including communication and consultation skills, patient safety and team […]
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