Does Lorenzo mean the end of GP electronic patient records?
GP Mary Hawking asks whether the introduction of shared electronic records marks the end of GP electronic records as they have been known to date.
Feature
Patient Tsar backs tougher data theft laws
The chair of the Department of Health’s National Information Governance Board, and influential patient representative, Harry Cayton, has joined the Information Commissioner in calling on ministers not to water down legislation that would increase penalties for data theft. Cayton said that public confidence in data protection was essential to ensure the benefits of the NHS […]
News
NHS boss says NPfIT ‘was not in right place’
NHS chief executive David Nicholson says the NHS IT programme had become too centralised to support the move to a health service based on plurality and far more locally-based decision making by clinicians and patients. Speaking at the World Healthcare Congress in Berlin on Monday Nicholson explained why the introuduction of the NHS National Programme for […]
News
Four pilots for shared social care records
Three local authorities and one care trust are to pilot links between their social care systems and the NHS Personal Demographics Service (PDS). The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) has announced that Cheshire County Council, the London Borough of Greenwich, Slough Borough Council and Torbay Care Trust have been chosen, in association […]
News
Healthcare assistants’ access to SCR defended
Connecting for Health has defended the decision to allow healthcare assistants to access Summary Care Records (SCRs) in accident and emergency departments. Royal Bolton Hospital’s A&E department has been criticised by BMA IT representative Dr Paul Cundy after a document, released under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that healthcare assistants are asked to print […]
News
Capula Healthcare awarded BSI security certificate
Capula Healthcare has been awarded a BSI ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security certificate, the key security requirement set by NHS Connecting for Health. The certificate means that the company’s systems meet Connecting for Health requirements for tight security. Awarded after seven months of preparation, the certificate was assessed and certified by BSI, an external authority. David Gumm, business […]
News
Six month delay to stage two of electronic prescriptions
Release two of the Electronic Prescription Service will not go live until spring or summer this year, at least six months later than initially planned. Connecting for Health told EHI Primary Care that the initial timetable had been based on indicative timescales from system suppliers but had been delayed because suppliers were not yet ready […]
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
PCTs must roll-out summary records in 2008-09
PCT IM&T plans for the next financial year must include the roll-out of the Summary Care Record and the full implementation of Directly Bookable Services (DBS) for Choose and Book, according to latest guidance from the Department of Health. The guidance sets out the DH’s key expectations on IM&T for 2008/9 and the roles of […]
News
Immediate NHS data security review ordered
NHS chief executive David Nicholson has written to all NHS trust chief executives instructing them to immediately review and tighten their information governance and data transfer arrangements. The 4 December letter requires trusts to urgently re-examine the arrangements and policies local trusts have for securing data in transit. Trusts are told to urgently buy-in additional […]
News