Granger says Failure will be Penalised
NHS IT Director General Richard Granger this week raised the ante for would-be suppliers to the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in the NHS, making clear that penalty clauses would be invoked and damages sought from suppliers that fail to deliver. Speaking at Kable’s Government Computing conference in London on 12 June, Mr Granger stressed […]
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Open Source: ‘A Frenzy of Consolidation?’
This week E-Health Insider launches a new ‘Open Source’ column for anyone interested in healthcare IT to voice their opinion. In this first article Phil Birchall, healthcare business development manager at InterSystems, comments on consolidation among healthcare IT suppliers in light of the Torex acquisition of Protos last week. As we move closer to the […]
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Final Long-List for National Programme Reached
The National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in the NHS has reached the latest milestone in the procurement process for Local Service Providers (LSPs) and National Application Service Providers (NASPs) to deliver 21st Cenury IT to the NHS with selection of a slightly shorter long-list of candidates. The new list of firms, 22 prospective LSPs and […]
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South West Collaborative EPR Procurements Ended
A series of collaborative NHS IT procurement projects for electronic patient record (EPR) systems in the South West had the plug pulled last week by local management after they failed to secure national funding from the National Programme for IT in the NHS (NPfIT). The Shires and Pan-Bristol procurements predated the National Programme and had […]
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E-Booking Project Reaches Short-List
The procurement process for an NHS electronic bookings system reached a key milestone last week when bidders for the £40-50 million contract learned who had made it onto the short-list. E-booking forms one of the four main strands of the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in the NHS. Although yet to be officially announced the […]
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Basque GPs Suspended over Centralised Data Protest
Two GPs from the Basque Country in northern Spain have been suspended without pay, apparently for refusing to use a centralised database of patient records, writes SA Mathieson. The Basque health service, Osakidetza, last year implemented a central database called Osabide. According to Dr Juan Gérvas, a Madrid doctor and visiting professor at Baltimore’s Johns […]
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Mandatory Shared Financial Services Dropped
Plans to save up to £500m a year in NHS administration costs through the introduction of a next generation standardised NHS-wide finance system are in serious doubt following the Government’s decision not to mandate the adoption of shared financial services. The decision to drop implementation of two central pillars of the shared services initiative coincided […]
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Philosophical Response to Blackberd’s Grounding
A philosophical response greeted the news that the Black Country and Birmingham Electronic Records Development project – Blackberd to its friends – had been cancelled. The work done on the project, which was run by the Birmingham and Black Country Strategic Health Authority, will be used by the National Programme for IT in the NHS. […]
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NHS Urged to Adopt EAN.UCC Standard
UK-based campaigning group, e.centre, has welcomed a ruling by the US Food and Drug Administration mandating the use of a uniform system for barcoding pharmaceuticals. The pressure is now on for the NHS to follow suit. E.centre is a not-for-profit organisation which acts as the UK authority for the EAN.UCC (European Article Numbering and Uniform […]
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National Programme ‘Mobilises’ for Delivery
The shape of things to come on NHS IT started to become clearer during the course of Healthcare Computing with a series of key announcements made on how and when the NHS IT Programme is moving from its initial ‘mobilisation phase’ to focus on delivery, and the key personnel who will be responsible. Five Local […]
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