Mike O’Brien new minister for NHS IT
Mike O’Brien, the MP for North Warwickshire, has become the latest minister to take responsibility for NHS Connecting for Health and NHS IT. O’Brien, a former solicitor general, was minister for pension reform at the Department of Work and Pensions before Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s reshuffle this weekend. He replaces Ben Bradshaw, who left the […]
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Andy Burnham replaces Alan Johnson
Andy Burnham Andy Burnham has been named as the new health secretary. Burnham will replace Alan Johnson who moved to become the home secretary as part of Gordon Brown’s cabinet reshuffle, earlier today. It is also believed that Ben Bradshaw will be leaving the Department of Health to take over Burnham’s former role as Secretary […]
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Permanente way
Kaiser Permanente is making rapid progress with electronic health records. Jon Hoeksma reports.
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NHS told to secure patient data
The Information Commissioner has written to the permanent secretary of the Department of Health demanding immediate improvements to the lax treatment of personal data within the NHS. The demand for urgent action by Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, comes in the wake of a string of recent incidents where the institute has been forced to take […]
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E-Health Insider’s industry round up 15.5.09
This month’s E-Health Insider industry round-up covers news from the Healthcare Computing conference in Harrogate, new products, system deployments and other developments at leading healthcare IT suppliers.
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Interim flu line plans unveiled
The Department of Health is drawing up plans for an interim flu line after admitting that its National Flu Line Service will not be ready until October. Health secretary Alan Johnson told the House of Commons that the alternative system would let patients call a single number and that this would generate the collection of […]
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Microsoft does cross-government deal
The Treasury has signed a cross-government deal with Microsoft that will allow licenses to be transferred across the public sector. The value of the deal signed by the Office of Government Commerce Buying Solutions agency has not been disclosed. However, the government claims it will save the public sector £75m over five years. The deal […]
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NHS Evidence launches
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has launched NHS Evidence, an online source of “fast, free, relevant and trustworthy” information for health and social care staff. The new service was promised in the final report of Lord Darzi’s Next Stage Review of the NHS, High Quality Care for All and is being promoted as […]
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Four more organisations breach DPA
The Information Commissioner’s Office has taken enforcement action against another four NHS organisations, taking the number rapped for data breaches to 14 in six months. Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, NHS Central Lancashire, North West London Hospitals NHS Trust, and Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust have become the latest organisations to sign […]
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Politicians question major IT projects
Opposition politicians are lining up to promise to scrap major IT projects as the full scale of the coming public spending squeeze becomes apparent. But home secretary Jacqui Smith has indicated that the government plans to press ahead with plans to store communications data and make it available to the emergency services, health and other […]
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