Losing patient data may become a crime
The court should be able to prosecute doctors who have laptops containing unencrypted patient information stolen from their cars, according to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO has put forward proposals to the Ministry of Justice that will mean that it would be a criminal offence to “knowingly or recklessly” flout data protection rules […]
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SUS blasted as ‘not fit for purpose’
The Secondary Uses Service (SUS) is not fit for purpose and is failing to provide GP practices and PCTs with the information they need for practice based commissioning (PBC), according to the NHS Alliance. The criticism of SUS follows the results of the latest quarterly survey of PBC published by the Department of Health last […]
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Patient pressure to drive Choose and Book
Choose and Book boss Dr Stephen Miller explains why he believes it will be patients that force the adoption of the national service.
Feature
Data centre failure left practices without SystmOne
A fault at a BT-run data centre left GP practices using TPP’s SystmOne experiencing performance problems with their system for three hours last month. EHI Primary Care understands that the failure on September 18 affected all TPP’s SystmOne users from early morning until about 11am. The problem is the second time in just over a […]
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Confusion surrounds Summary Care Record
Indecision about the Summary Care Record has led to confusion about its content and purpose, according to a report from MPs. The Health Committee has heavily criticised both the Department of Health and Connecting for Health for confusion about what will be included in the SCR and what the record will be used for. In their enquiry […]
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Wait for early SCR results before rollout, says BMA
The British Medical Association (BMA) has told the Department of Health (DH) that it wants to see no further rollout of the Summary Care Record beyond the early adopter sites until the independent evaluation has been completed and ways forward agreed. It says it will advise doctors outside the early adopter primary care trusts (PCTs) […]
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BNF for mobile devices launched
Britain’s best-known medicines guide, the British National Formulary, is now available especially configured to be used on a range of mobile devices including BlackBerrys and Apple’s new iPhone. The BNF aims to provide prescribers, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals with essential information on the selection of safe and effective medicines for individual patients. It is […]
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Some NPfIT PAS systems barely used
A number of Connecting for Health funded patient administration systems installed in primary care and community trusts, are only being used by a handful of staff.
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More recalling choice but figures remain low
Almost half of patients referred to hospital by their GP can recall being offered choice, according to fully published results of the Department of Health’s (DH) National Patient Choice Survey from March 2007. However, provisional findings from the latest May 2007 survey show a fall in the recall of choice, with just 44% saying they […]
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Health and social care records ‘need framework’
Social services directors are calling for a national framework for care record standards across health and social care, after their survey found limited progress on implementation of the Electronic Social Care Record (ESCR). A survey conducted by the Association of Directors of Social Services found that although 94% of local authorities have made progress in […]
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