Data spine key to Patient’s Passport, say Tories
Under a Conservative government the NHS Care Record Service would become the key tool enabling the introduction of the proposed Patient’s Passport initiative under which patients could choose between a range of health service providers taking their funding with them. In an interview with E-Health Insider shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley, said that a future […]
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Healthcare IT and Devolution
The health services in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland were detached from the English mother ship as part of devolution. This can be seen in terms of policies: in this week’s elections for the Welsh Assembly, Labour promised free prescriptions if it regained power. But it also means that IT is procured by each nation, […]
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Questions in the House About DG Role
Mark Todd, Labour MP and a former IT director, has told E-Health Insider that he believes the current management structure for the National Programme for IT in the NHS "appears rather cloudy" and "is not the optimum arrangement". He says greater clarity over lines of accountability and leadership may be needed. The former head of […]
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NHS LifeHouse to Test Patient Smart Cards
A study by NHS LifeHouse , a London NHS R&D funded group, is to begin later this year to assess the feasibility of electronic patient smart cards is set to begin in Hillingdon, London. The project, which aims to begin by the autumn, will look at the feasibility of issuing a smart card to all […]
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Community Nurses to Expose Poor IT Provision
Trusts that lag behind in providing modern IT for community nurses will be named and shamed by the nurses’ union, the Community Practitioners and Health Visitors’ Association (CPHVA) as part of its Making IT Happen campaign. A survey of local representatives is being carried out to find out how many community nurses are linked up […]
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2001: The Year the Money Disappeared
The NHS has stood at the cusp in 2001, its stark failures were laid bare by the Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry and Shipman reports, and yet it was also the year in which a re-elected Labour Government pledged unprecedented investment in the service. Though the IT agenda has attracted few headlines, it has permeated both […]
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Doctors Do Not Make Full Use of Electronic Records
Despite widespread implementation of electronic records, Norwegian doctors tend not to make full use of the functionality available to them in the systems, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal. Researchers from Trondheim looked at how medical staff used three different systems installed in 32 units. In total they received views from […]
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