PCTs register a third of pharmacists for smartcards
Around one in three community pharmacists have been registered to use a smartcard to use the electronic prescription service (EPS) according to Connecting for Health but pharmacy representatives and businesses are continuing to raise concerns about the speed of rollout. Connecting for Health has published its first figures on the registration of pharmacists for smartcards […]
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EMIS pushes for local backup of hosted records
EMIS is to install back-up ‘mirrors’ of centrally hosted patient records in practices using their PCS Web software, in case their connections to N3 goes down and they lose the ability to access their data. Speaking at a roadshow in Twickenham, south-west London, Sean Riddell, deputy managing director of EMIS, explained that experience had showed […]
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Essex awards BT VoIP over N3 contract
Essex Strategic Health Authority has awarded a contract to BT to link up all of its healthcare organisations’ phone communications with VoIP over N3, the new NHS broadband network being installed across England as part of the National Programme for IT. BT, which is also rolling out the N3 network nationally, will put IP telephony […]
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Granger tells NHS to be proud of progress
Multinational giant, GE Healthcare, has earned praise from the NHS IT director-general for its rapid progress in deploying picture archiving and communication systems – and a reminder that it now needs to pull off the same sort of performance in London with its newly-acquired clinical solutions provider IDX. Speaking at Healthcare Computing 2006, Richard Granger […]
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Unichem connects for Electronic Prescription Service
Pharmaceutical wholesaler UniChem and its retail arm Alliance Pharmacy has announced that it has selected virtual networking company Sirocom to provide a managed broadband service to 1,000 of its pharmacies. The broadband connections are being implemented to enable the roll out of Electronic Prescribing Services by connecting allowing its pharmacies to connect to the NHS […]
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EMIS set to pilot new e-records system
GP computer supplier EMIS is about to pilot its new electronic record system linking practices with community teams including district nurses, health visitors and physiotherapists. PCS Web provides a common system for anyone working in the community with all patients’ data accessible from anywhere via the web-based application. The system offers community teams their own […]
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DES payments to GPs for IM&T work unveiled
Preparation for the National Programme for IT could earn practices £1.33 per patient next year under the new payment scheme for GPs. Details of the directed enhanced service (DES) for information management and technology, first announced in December, have been released as part of a 219-page guidance document on changes to the nGMS contract from April. As […]
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New GP choice proposals outlined
NHS Connecting for Health has outlined new proposals for delivering GP system choice based on a multi-step accreditation process. If adopted, the approach could potentially enable practices to buy systems either directly from suppliers or from their local service providers and still have them funded by the national programme. The proposals now being consulted on […]
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Warning on patient data from medicines reviews
Pharmacists are being warned not to e-mail medicines use reviews to GPs until concerns over confidentiality have been addressed. The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee says there has been an “exponential increase” in the number of medicines use reviews (MURs) currently being carried out by pharmacists and that many GPs have asked to receive the MUR […]
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Pharmacists urged to contact PCTs on smart cards
Pharmacy representatives are telling pharmacists to contact their primary care trusts over smartcard availability as Connecting for Health publishes its first set of guidance for pharmacists on the electronic prescription service (EPS). The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee says it is “strongly advising” pharmacists to contact their PCT to find out what the local arrangements will […]
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