CfH accused of ‘sham’ on clinical consultation
Perhaps the most unexpected part of the Commons Public Accounts Committee hearing on the National Programme for IT this week was the appearance of two senior figures from the programme’s early days – Dr Anthony Nowlan and Professor Peter Hutton – who came back to haunt the proceedings with accusations about lack of clinical engagement. Professor Hutton, a distinguished […]
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Head of NHS Scotland says doctors key to IT projects
Doctors are playing a key role in the development of IT systems in Scotland and will continue to do so in future, the chief executive of NHS Scotland has pledged. Dr Kevin Woods told the Scottish Parliament’s Health Committee that one of the key messages from NHS Connecting for Health in England was the necessity […]
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Nursing engagement ‘could become a risk’
Communication with nurses affected by new IT implementations is an issue and will become a risk without appropriate action, IT professionals have been warned. Bernice Baker a nursing lecturer at Bournemouth University and co-founder of the e-health nurses network called for a strategic approach to bringing nurses into IT change programmes. The benefits would be […]
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Paper working after disaster ‘not acceptable’
A senior executive for a health service local service provider (LSP) this week expressed the view that leaving large NHS trusts working on paper for a week after a disaster was ‘not acceptable’. Sunil Patel, development director of Accenture, LSP for the North east and Eastern regions of England, was referring to the disaster at […]
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40 business cases for PACS signed off
Forty business cases for picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) in the NHS in England have been signed off and completed and a new toolkit is to be made available shortly to support trusts in the implementation of the new systems. David Jennings, NHS Connecting for Health’s national PACS implementation manager, announced the figures at […]
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HSCIC in talks with private sector partner
The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), the Department of Health agency with prime responsibility for co-ordinating NHS and social care statistics, has confirmed that it is in discussion with a potential partner from the private sector. A report in the Guardian said that the centre was negotiating to hand over work to Dr […]
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CfH could face a £10 billion funding gap
A new consultation paper produced by an influential health computing industry group has raised concerns about the medium-term funding of the NHS National Programme for IT, suggesting that there may be a funding gap of up to £10 billion. "It is felt that there is a medium-term funding gap estimated at over £10 billion pounds […]
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CfH poll reveals gaps in staff knowledge of NPfIT
Connecting for Health has announced the results of its own poll among NHS clinicians and managers and allied health professionals into perceptions, opinions and hopes and fears for the National Programme for IT, which has revealed there are still wide differences between clinicians and managers about the awareness of the programme. Front-line staff showed the […]
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Improve communication on NPfIT, say researchers
Unrealistic and shifting timetables, lack of consultation and communication with NPfIT managers, and lack of perceived short term benefits have affected staff morale in trusts tackling IT modernisation, according to research published in the British Medical Journal today. The research recommends that National Programme for IT’s (NPfIT) managers should prioritise strategies to improve communication with, and […]
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Nurses support IT reform – but lack information
Nurses remain supportive of NHS IT developments and rising numbers feel better informed about them – but the majority still say they have inadequate information or no information at all. This latest snapshot of nurses’ views comes from an online survey by Nursix conducted earlier this year among 1776 Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members. […]
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