Patients to get Facebook-style Communicator
From March, patients will be able to carry out email consultations with GPs and other clinicians using a Facebook-style tool called Communicator. E-Health Insider has been told that Communicator will be launched as part of ambitious development plans for HealthSpace, the online organiser that gives patients access to their NHS Summary Care Record. Communicator will […]
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Gap between SCR concept and reality
The gap between the concept of the NHS Summary Care Record and the reality of implementing it will continue to be the focus of its evaluation programme. Patricia Greenhalgh, professor of primary care at University College London, which was commissioned to evaluate the SCR early adopters, told yesterday’s Healthcare Interoperability conference that the evaluation programme […]
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SCR consent model changes
The NHS Care Records Board will today confirm that patients will be asked for permission to share their record at each clinical encounter. In a much-anticipated move, the board has acted on the recommendations of the May 2008 UCL report on the first primary care trusts to adopt the Summary Care Record. Patients will still […]
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HealthSpace set for big expansion
HealthSpace, the government’s secure online site for patients, is to be expanded to include shared records and GP appointment booking, according to the Health Informatics Review. The review, published last week, outlines a much wider role for HealthSpace and says its consultation highlighted strong support for the HealthSpace initiative. In future HealthSpace will be accessed […]
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NHS Choices £80m contract award imminent
The Department of Health is this week expected to announce the winner of the three-year, £80m contract to run NHS Choices, the patient portal for health service. Gordon Hextall, acting head of NHS Connecting for Health, said at a news conference last Thursday, 10 July, that an announcement of the NHS Choices contract was “due […]
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Darzi’s report for the digital generation
The final report of the Next Stage Review of the English NHS sees technology-driven change as one of the challenges facing the NHS in the 21st century.
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EMIS extends online patient record access
GP IT system supplier EMIS is extending its online patient record access service to all of its practices. Latest figures show that GP medical records have so far been viewed 10,853 times with the EMIS Access system, which has been piloted in a small number of practices over the last 18 months. Sean Riddell, managing […]
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We live in digital times
Nick Timmins, public policy editor of the Financial Times, argues that the NHS has to succeed in digitisatising if it is to last another 60 years.
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NHS Choices gets central role in future health
The DH’s flagship website has been given a central role in Lord Darzi’s plans for reforming the health service in England.
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