NPfIT urged to communicate with nurses
The Royal College of Nursing have called for better communication between nursing staff and the National Programme for IT, and have offered to help the programme reach out and talk to them. Sharon Levy, Informatics Adviser at the RCN, speaking at the ‘Practical Steps to Implementation of NPfIT’ conference in London, said that nurses "have to […]
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New clinical representative groups to be established
A series of new clinical representative groups are to be established to provide a direct link for the first time between the Royal Colleges and various health professionals’ bodies and the NHS National programme for IT (NPfIT). E-Health Insider can exclusively reveal that three new bodies will be established: a new medical informatics group will […]
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Nursing IT study to look at local systems
The Department of Health has funded a £250,000, two-year study into how nurses use IT when making clinical decisions and the level of training and information available to them when using the systems. The study, which will be undertaken in collaboration between York, Southampton and Loughborough universities, will concentrate on individual specialised local systems in […]
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Health and Social Care chief talks about year ahead
Bob Allen, interim chief executive of the new Information Centre for Health and Social Care, has spoken to E-Health Insider about the centre’s responsibilities when it comes into being as a special authority on 1 April, 2005. The centre takes over some of the role of the NHS Information Authority, which is to be disbanded […]
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Release the pharmacists
Better application of technology could take the administrative burden away from hospital pharmacists, leaving them free to concentrate on patient care.
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Robot cat gives patients happy felines
Researchers in Georgetown University, Washington DC, have found that stroking a robotic cat is more beneficial to health than petting a toy; and that such a machine could even remind patients to take medication. Alexander and Elena Libin, a husband-and-wife team of robotic psychology researchers, found that the NeCoRo robots (below), manufactured by Japanese company […]
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Mencap chief exec joins care record board
Jo Williams, chief executive of Mencap, the UK’s leading learning disability charity, has joined the National Programme for IT’s Care Record Development Board (CRDB) as its social care deputy chair. Williams (right) said she was very pleased to be appointed and to be working with CRDB chair, Harry Cayton, for whom she said she had the […]
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Care record board to focus on communication
The new chair of the Care Record Development Board who is charged with the task of engaging stakeholders in the evolution of the new electronic record admits that it looks as though communication has not been as effective as it should be. Harry Cayton, who is also the Department of Health’s patients’ tsar, told his first […]
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McKesson launches text appointment reminder service
McKesson, one of the largest existing suppliers of hospital patient administration systems, has a launched an automated text message reminder service for NHS outpatient which it claims can help save the NHS £300 million a year. The company’s new text message reminder service, provided in association with TotalCare Meditxt, is designed to help NHS Acute […]
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E-prescribing benefits flow for Liverpool hospital
Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Trust has announced the completion of e-prescribing in all but one of its in-patient clinical areas. Only the neonatal unit remains to be covered by the Meditech EP system, built with technology partners FileTek UK. The system provides total integration between the pharmacy stock system, patient prescriptions and other patient-based Meditech […]
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