One PCT may have met October C+B target
A primary care trust is hoping it will be able to claim the second £100,000 incentive payment for Choose and Book which it plans to distribute to its successful practices. Durham Dales PCT is likely to be the only trust in England to achieve the target which required a PCT to make 50% of its […]
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SMS appointment reminders get language boost
A GP practice in south London which is using text messaging to send out appointment reminders to its patients will soon start sending out SMSs in separate languages. The Patient Care Messaging system, supplied by iPlato and running from the practice’s EMIS database, has been used to send out flu jab prompts to patients at risk as […]
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GPs urged to accept ETP software
GPs are to be asked to accept software for electronic transmission of prescriptions as soon as possible as part of a Department of Health (DH) drive for rapid adoption of the service. John Bacon, the DH’s Group Director of Health and Social Care Delivery, and the senior responsible officer for the National Programme for IT, […]
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Scottish practices indicate interest in systems switch
Almost 20 per cent of practices in Scotland have expressed an interest in switching to a different IT system with the vast majority of those wishing to change currently using the centrally funded system GPASS. GPs in Scotland had until the end of October to express an interest in moving to a new clinical computer […]
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First live GP2GP record transfer
The first live electronic transfer of a patient’s record between GPs using GP2GP record transfer has occurred under the NHS National Programme for IT. A full patient record was transferred between the Whickam Heath Centre practice to the Chainbridge House practice, both in Gateshead on Tyneside, via the NHS spine. The transfer was made between two […]
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Ealing and Southend-on-Sea start patient txt messaging
Mobile messaging firm iPlato has announced that practices from two more primary care trusts in England have started using its Patient Care Messaging system. Integrated into the underlying practice patient administration and clinical system, iPLATO’s Patient Care Messaging service enables easy text messaging with patients around appointments and specialised clinics, helping tackle did not attend […]
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Microsoft claims SharePoint success in NHS
Microsoft has announced that the number of users of its SharePoint collaboration and filesharing technology in the NHS has increased 25-fold since it signed an enterprise-wide agreement with Connecting for Health. The software, which became heavily discounted to NHS users in May 2004 as part of a wider enterprise-wide agreement, allows organisations to share and […]
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QFLU will keep tabs on flu cases
Hundreds of GPs across Britain have signed up to contribute daily reports on flu cases to a new database that will help the government to plan for medical care and vaccine supplies this winter. As the Department of Health launched its annual campaign to encourage take up of free flu vaccinations for eligible groups, GP […]
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GP system choice being blocked and mocked
A Hertfordshire IT manager reported that he was laughed at when he told his local service provider (LSP) that he wanted to use an EMIS computer system rather than the two systems offered routinely in his area. The position apparently flies in the face of a pledge in March from John Hutton, then health minister, […]
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Every PCT to miss Choose and Book target
The Department of Health (DH) has admitted that not a single primary care trust in England is likely to be in a position to meet its next Choose and Book target and is relying on paper solutions to deliver its flagship policy on choice at referral. Just over 6,000 bookings have been made through Choose […]
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