VHA Signs Agreement with IBM
VHA Inc., a leading US network of community-owned health care systems and physicians, has signed an agreement with IBM to cost effectively centrally procure desktop and notebook computers, servers and workstations to the 2,200 healthcare organisations within VHA. The agreement is intended to help participating organisations improve their overall efficiency, reduce costs and improve work […]
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NHS Direct Needs Greater Focus
A new Public Accounts Committee report on the NHS Direct telephone information service says that callers are currently waiting too long to speak to a nurse, with many patients having to wait up over 20 minutes. The report also says that the service needs to improve response times and review productivity at individual sites to […]
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Health IT Leaders Welcome Wanless
From being strictly a minority interest healthcare Information and Communication technology (ICT) has suddenly moved to centre stage in British politics. According to leading Health IT figures the challenge is to rapidly deliver systems that provide real benefits to patients. Yesterday’s Budget saw the Government stake its future on delivering dramatic improvements in the NHS, […]
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NHS Needs To Double IT Spending – Wanless
A doubling of spending on information and communication technology will be needed to fund ambitious targets set out in the NHS Information Strategy, according to the Wanless Review on healthcare funding commissioned by The Treasury. The report’s author, former NatWest Group chief executive, Derek Wanless, and his review team recommend that the money should be […]
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Enterprise Resource Planning Vital for NHS
The NHS must adopt modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to make better use of its capacity and resources if it is to cope with steadily rising levels of demand, leading IT vendors have warned. Hugo Schellens, general manager of Belgium bookings systems firm Ultragenda, said that the main problem facing the NHS was the […]
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Gates Says NHS Must Deliver in Digital Age
It’s not every day that you get to see the richest man in the world, and the gawp factor must have accounted for a good number of the 150-odd NHS chief executives and directors that attended last week’s Microsoft-sponsored Department of Health IT conference. But the man from Redmond offered them little in way of […]
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Siemens and Microsoft Form .Net Alliance
Siemens Medical Solutions Health Services (SMS) has entered into a strategic alliance with Microsoft Corp., under which the two companies will collaborate to optimise Siemens health information applications on the Microsoft .NET Enterprise technology platform. Siemens and Microsoft will also work together building best practices for hosting applications in an Application Service Provider (ASP) model. […]
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NHS Awaits Treasury Approval of Landmark Microsoft Deal
The Department of Health and NHS Purchasing and Supplies Agency (PASA) have completed negotiations of a critical national software licensing deal with Microsoft to provide the company’s latest desktop personal productivity and back office applications to 300,000 NHS users. Final approval of the business plan is expected from the Treasury within the next two weeks. […]
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