Nhs.uk to provide information for Patient Choice
Patients will be encouraged to use the NHS online service, nhs.uk, to gather information about NHS hospitals when they are making choices about treatment. The NHS Information Authority announced this week that the online service had been chosen by the Department of Health as the channel for giving patients the information they need to select […]
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NPfIT launches patient and clinician advisory groups
The National Programme for IT (NPfIT) has launched two new consultative groups to help shape the future direction of the programme. Healthcare professionals will be represented through the National Clinical Advisory Board (NCAB), while patients will have a voice through the Patient Advisory Board (PAB). With the first contracts for the national programme now only […]
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Information Vital to Extending Patient Choice
Health Secretary John Reid has upped the ante on the Government’s patient choice agenda and the electronic appointment booking targets, with a new pledge that by 2005 all patients will be offered at least four different choices over where they are treated when the initial decision is made by their GP to refer them for […]
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ComMedica Unveils Web-Based Patient Record
ComMedica, a spinout company from London University’s Imperial College of Science and Technology, this week formally unveiled its Patient Record Library System (PiRiLiS) at the Princess Margaret Hospital, Windsor. The web-based system is being used for pathology and radiology records initially and is receiving enthusiastic support from consultant users who can gain remote access to […]
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NHS LifeHouse to Test Patient Smart Cards
A study by NHS LifeHouse , a London NHS R&D funded group, is to begin later this year to assess the feasibility of electronic patient smart cards is set to begin in Hillingdon, London. The project, which aims to begin by the autumn, will look at the feasibility of issuing a smart card to all […]
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Survey Challenges Compulsory Patient Data Sharing
A new survey by ICM research finds that 95% of patients said they would not allow civil servants access to their medical records without having been asked first. The research, commissioned by the Patients Association, is published in the week the UK Government is expected to approve new laws that could provide the Secretary of […]
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Strong Patient Demand for Online Access to Doctors
Ninety percent of adults who are online want some form of electronic communication with their doctors, according to US market researchers, Harris Interactive. A recent poll of just over 2000 people found that, of the 66% of respondents able to access an online connection, 77% wanted to ask questions when a visit to the doctor’s […]
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GPs Believe EPRs Will Improve Patient Care
A major new survey of the attitudes Yorkshire GPs to electronic patient records in primary and community care has revealed that 60% of them believe that the introduction of electronic records will improve patient care. However, almost half (48%) of them say they either will not, or don’t know, whether they will be able to […]
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Government Urged to be Patient on Patient Records
The Government should accept that the 2005 target for electronic patient records will be missed and not be panicked into a national big bang approach that could have disastrous consequences for the health service, leading IT suppliers have warned. Having already accepted that the 2002 target for 35% of NHS trusts to have level three […]
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