Info underpins National Care Service
The government has identified telecare and online information services as two of the foundations of its proposed National Care Service. A much anticipated green paper on the future of adult social care says that support to help people remain independent and information to help them navigate the care support system are two of the six […]
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NHS Choices may increase inequality
Relying on online sources such as NHS Choices to deliver information to patients could lead the NHS to sustain or even increase health inequalities, a new report warns. The authors says the government’s policy is to give patients better access to information but that the internet may not be the most effective way of doing […]
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Switchover to Digital Britain
The government has confirmed that it wants universal access to 2Mbps broadband by 2012, arguing that this is vital for the future of commercial and public services. Its Digital Britain report, published yesterday, also sets out plans for a “digital switchover” for public services once the 2Mbps universal service commitment has been achieved. This would […]
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HealthSpace expansion plans shelved
The Department of Health has shelved plans for a massive expansion of its personal health record project, HealthSpace.
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BMA works with NHS Choices on GP ratings
The BMA’s GP committee has confirmed it is working with NHS Choices to enable patients to rate and review their GP practices on the flagship NHS website. The General Practitioner Committee described the concept as a “meaningless popularity contest” in December when the proposed service was announced by health minister Ben Bradshaw but has now […]
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Capita wins quality mark contract
The Department of Health has appointed Capita to manage the Information Standard accreditation scheme that is due to be launched later this summer. The contract is the second big information win for Capita in the past year. Last July, the outsourcing specialist won the contract to run NHS Choices for three years, taking over from […]
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AHPs embrace Choose and Book
Yvonne Pettigrew, CfH’s national clinical lead for allied health professionals Use of Choose and Book for referrals to allied health professionals has risen by more than 500% in the last year, NHS Connecting for Health has announced. Referrals via Choose and Book increased from 1,000 a month a year ago to more than 5,000 a month […]
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NHS Choices to publish mortality rates
NHS Choices is to start publishing hospitals’ standardised mortality ratios on its website. The government’s flagship health site already publishes generalised mortality rates for heart surgery and operations such as hip and knee surgery. But within the next few weeks, doctors and patients will be able to access much more specific information. The HSMR figures will […]
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Tories would ‘end monopoly’ of NHS Choices
The Conservative Party would remove NHS Choices from Department of Health control and force it to compete on the same terms as other healthcare information providers. In a document promising An NHS Information Revolution to Save Lives, the party says NHS Choices is failing to get adequate information to managers, clinicians and patients and that […]
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Information prescriptions expanded
The Department of Health is publicising information prescriptions and has said that an information accreditation scheme should be launched later this year. Thirteen information prescriptions are now live on the NHS Choices website. These were promised in the 2006 white paper, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say, as a way of directing patients to reliable […]
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