BT on track to get southern Cerner trusts
British Telecom is on track to take over responsibility of the eight southern NHS trusts running Cerner Millennium from Fujitsu, with an agreement now likely to be reached in August. At the launch of the NHS Informatics Review last week Gordon Hextall, acting head of NHS Connecting for Health, told E-Health Insider that negotiations were […]
News
CSC markets Alert to the NHS
Computer Sciences Corporation has stepped up its marketing of a Portuguese electronic patient record (EPR) system called Alert to NHS trusts in the North Midlands and East of England. CSC is understood to have invested technical resources in evaluating and testing the Alert EPR over the past six months. The move comes despite ongoing delays […]
News
Nicholson says C+B use not based on payments
NHS chief executive David Nicholson last night said that use of Choose and Book remains disappointingly low but has become a fact of life in the NHS. Answering MPs’ questions about Choose and Book use at the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee hearing on the NHS IT programme, Nicholson said: “Utilisation of the system […]
News
BT in talks to take over Cerner trusts in south
BT has confirmed it is in talks to take over responsibility for trusts in the south with Cerner Millennium
News
Lords back criminalisation of data breaches
The House of Lords has backed proposals to make it a criminal offence to disclose personal information intentionally or recklessly. The backing follows the Information Commissioner’s call for NHS chief executives to be held accountable for any data loss last week. If the amendment it is to become law, it will need to be approved […]
News
Johnson steps up pressure on 0844 numbers
Health secretary Alan Johnson has stepped up the pressure on practices using 0844 telephone numbers as campaigners draw up a list of more than 800 surgeries with such numbers. The health secretary, who is MP for Hull and Hessle West, criticised the use of 0844 numbers in his local paper as the Department of Health’s […]
News
GP practices must publicise 0844 call costs
GP practices that use 0844 telephone numbers have been told they must publicise the cost of using the service to patients. The BMA’s General Practitioner Committee has told GPs that where 0844 numbers are used by practices there must be mention of the charge for telephone calls in the practice’s information leaflet. The GPC has […]
News
Practices use of 0844 numbers to be investigated
The government is to gather evidence about the use of 0844 telephone numbers by GP practices and its impact on patients, ahead of a possible clampdown on their use. Health minister Ivan Lewis told a House of Commons debate that GPs making use of 0844 numbers should consider whether it is “best professional practice” to […]
News
MPs call for data loss to be a crime
Reckless or repeated breaches of data security should become a criminal offence, the House of Commons Justice Select Committee has urged in its report into the protection of private data. The call follows the loss of 25m people’s personal details by HM Revenue and Customs last November, described by the committee as ‘truly shocking’. The […]
News
QoF architects call for changes
The architects of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) have called for a raft of changes to the scheme as the House of Commons Health Committee prepares to consider how QoF could be used to reduce health inequalities. Prof Martin Roland, director of The National Primary Care Research and Development Centre, led work on developing […]
News