MPs told Wales, Scotland and NI passed on NPfIT
The NHS in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales were each approached and subsequently turned down the opportunity to participate in the £6billion National Programme for IT (NPfIT), a Commons select committee has been told. As a result, hospitals in England treating patients from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland face the prospect of having to maintain […]
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Nurses in the dark on IT developments, survey reveals
UK nurses are generally positive about NHS IT developments, but over three quarters have received little or no information about them, a survey conducted by Nursix for the Royal College of Nursing reveals. Alison Kitson, executive director nursing, at the RCN, said: "Clearly nurses can see huge improvements in patient care with the introduction of […]
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Reader Comment: ‘NPfIT Viewed from Scotland’
The following ‘reader comment’ was supplied in response to recent E-Health Insider reports on the development of the National Programme for IT. The author is a consultant anaesthetist at a leading Scottish acute trust, who leads on IT issues locally. There is much about the current national programme procurements and what they entail, and the machinations […]
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IBM To Consolidate NI Health IT
IBM has announced that the first applications have gone live under its ten-year contract to provide Directorate of Information Systems of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) in Northern Ireland to with consolidated IT systems. The ten-year deal was signed with the DHSSPS in January to provide it with a regional, consolidated […]
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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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Northern Ireland Issues Integrated ICT Strategy
The Northern Ireland Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety has issued a consultation document on developing integrated IT systems that sets out how it plans to use information and communications technology (ICT) to provide joined-up health and social care. The proposals are aimed at introducing fully ICT-enabled health and social care. Key elements […]
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NHS Signs Landmark National Software Deal With Microsoft
The NHS has completed a three-year corporate software licensing deal with Microsoft Ltd, which will see all NHS computer users get access to the latest Microsoft software and potentially save the NHS £50m. The new "NHS Enterprise Agreement", which has immediate effect, will dramatically rationalise the NHS’s previously fragmented purchasing of Microsoft products. Senior NHS […]
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