NHS 24 has improved, says health minister
NHS 24 has undergone ‘radical changes’ in order to improve its service to the public since last year’s review calling for an overhaul of the helpline, Scottish health minister Andy Kerr has claimed. Kerr was speaking at the helpline’s annual review, where he said the service had overcome early difficulties to provide a ‘prompt and […]
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Derbyshire PCTs ditch NHS Direct for out-of-hours
NHS Direct will no longer provide out-of-hours services to three Derbyshire PCTs after concerns were raised over long callback times. Two deputising services, which were previously supplying OOH services before NHS Direct, will now put out a joint tender with a view to replacing NHS Direct in November. Dr John Grenville, chair of Derbyshire LMCs, […]
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Unwinding the cord
NHS Direct aims to develop its core health advice service to offer a range of remote care additional services to the NHS. Fiona Barr talks to chief operating officer Dr Mike Sadler.
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Head of NHS Scotland says doctors key to IT projects
Doctors are playing a key role in the development of IT systems in Scotland and will continue to do so in future, the chief executive of NHS Scotland has pledged. Dr Kevin Woods told the Scottish Parliament’s Health Committee that one of the key messages from NHS Connecting for Health in England was the necessity […]
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Hants and IOW share records for 1.5 million patients
Hospital and GP records for 1.5 million patients are to be available for the NHS to share in a ground-breaking project launched ahead of the national NHS Care Records Service. The Clinical Data Repository (CDR) set up by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority has gone live this month with GP records for […]
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NHS Direct announces cutbacks consultation
NHS Direct has launched a three month consultation with staff on proposals that will cut around 1,000 existing jobs. Reasons for the cutbacks include lower volumes of calls than expected on the Choose and Book Appointments Line and a smaller volume of GP out-of-hours services than forecast. A statement from the 24-hour health advice and […]
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NAO says out-of-hours management information poor
Management information on out-of-hours services is poor, caused partly by problems with IT systems and compounded by inadequate telephone systems in some areas, the National Audit Office (NAO) has reported. In its 48 page review of how new arrangements for out-of-hours care have worked since the vast majority of GPs opted out in 2004, The Provision […]
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Scots ahead
Fiona Barr looks at how electronic summaries of GP records are already in operation in Scotland, accessible by out of hours providers and with A&E departments soon to be added.
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NHS24 to get access to emergency care records
Scotland is to allow NHS24 access to emergency care summaries of patients’ GP records from June, subject to explicit consent when patients call the healthcare helpline. The extension of the Emergency Care Summary (ECS) project to NHS24 will coincide with the completion of the rollout of the project across Scotland in June when the summaries […]
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NHS Direct staff could face job cuts
Jobs at NHS Direct may be cut by up to a third, and nurses replaced by non-medical call centre operatives, according to press reports today. The Nursing Times will tomorrow report that a closed session of the NHS Direct board, held on 28 February, drafted proposals to cut the equivalent of 960 full-time post through […]
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