Waiting to connect
How soon will GP2GP transfer be possible? EHI Primary Care looks at progress so far, and how much of the NPfIT needs to be in place before it becomes operational.
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Lessons from America
E-Health Insider talks to David Brailer, national co-ordinator for health IT in the US, about how the US and English health IT programmes can learn from one another.
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EMIS sets out its version of ‘fact and fiction’
Primary Care systems supplier EMIS has issued its customers with a briefing about its relationship with the NHS National Programme for IT, claiming it has been frozen out of the National Programme with GPs penalised if they wish to retain or move to EMIS systems. While the document, entitled ‘Fact not Fiction’, says that EMIS remains fully supportive of […]
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Urgent need for joined-up IT to improve US healthcare
An influential new report identifies fragmentation as a key cause of problems in the American healthcare system and says IT can play a key role in creating a more integrated, patient-centric approach. The report says, however, that the IT infrastructure in use in US healthcare is itself fragmented, hindering efforts to improve patient care. It […]
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Sun awarded ‘tactical’ NHS desktop contract
The National Programme for IT (NPfIT) has concluded an evaluation project with Sun Microsystems over the potential use of Sun’s open-source Java Desktop System within the NHS as an alternative to Microsoft. E-Health Insider can exclusively reveal that NPfIT “has concluded that the Java Desktop System, which runs on the Linux operating system, represents a […]
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Trial on satellite-assisted ambulance
A trial is about to start on satellite assistance for specially-equipped ambulances which will enable staff to send information, including X-rays, to a medical centre from the scene of an accident. The technology, to be trialled in the Italian town of Vicenza, was demonstrated at a recent meeting on the theme of Telemedicine via Satellite […]
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Pathology IT future ‘more complex than assumed’
Future developments in pathology IT are likely to be far more complex and unpredictable than current roadmaps are predicting, according to a white paper from laboratory systems specialists, Sysmed. “Only by making managed pathology networks adaptive can pathology services become agile enough to respond effectively to increasing future demand for change,” argues the paper written […]
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Armed forces march towards electronic health records
The MoD has announced the next stage of plans to introduce an electronic medical records system that will link to the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in the next six years. Two suppliers, LogicaCMG and IBM have been short-listed for a £1m contract, due to be awarded in early 2005, to prove their systems. […]
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Scottish GPs say GPASS is failing doctors
GPs in Scotland have warned the Scottish Executive that the official Scotland-wide IT system for general practice, GPASS, is failing doctors. The warning came when Scottish doctors recently debated and passed a motion at their annual conference which claimed that GPASS (the General Practice Administration System), a system for managing general practice, is "continuing to fail […]
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Opinion: Time for SMEs in health IT to raise profile
Mark Simon, chairman of the new UK e-Health Association small and medium sized enterprise special interest group and chief executive officer of UK-based ComMedica, sets out his view of challenges ahead. The massive and far-reaching changes in the procurement of IT wrought by the NHS National Programme for IT threaten to make – or break – […]
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