Receptionist call triage system launched
Decision support specialists Plain Healthcare have launched a new triage system for receptionists dealing with patients on the telephone or presenting at the surgery, called Reception Odyssey. The system is designed to help practice receptionists determine how urgent a request for an appointment is and what priority to give the patient, ensuring patients are seen […]
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QMAS fails to take strain in end of year rush
The national IT system for the Quality and Outcomes Framework has been failing to work intermittently yesterday and today as GP practices attempt to submit their data at the end of the year. The Quality and Management Analysis System (QMAS), built for NHS Connecting for Health by BT, has been intermittently unavailable. One primary care […]
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Patient outreach solution launched for LTCs
A new system designed to help the management of long term conditions (LTCs) has been launched by Clinical Solutions. The system is Clinical Solution’s first for supporting the treatment of LTCs and the company hopes it will help to transform the way patients are cared for by health services in Europe. Clinical Solutions’ global sales and marketing director, […]
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Framework sets out plan for joined up IT
The government has set out a radical plan for joining up health and social care IT systems and sharing information about individuals and communities across services. The Commissioning Framework for Health and Wellbeing, now out for consultation from the Department of Health and the Department for Communities and Local Government, says councils, PCTs and practice […]
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Over 21000 patients search QoF data
Patients have carried out more than 21,000 searches of GP practice data from the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) in the last six months. QoF data for England has been available for patients to search since September via a patient-friendly site produced by the Information Centre (IC). The site enables patients to access their own […]
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i-Contact aims to combat missed appointments
A new web-based communications engine called i-Contact has been developed to help GPs combat the problem of missed appointments. The i-Contact system, from communications specialists Data SMS, is a two-way communications tool allowing surgeries to text patients or leave voicemail messages on their mobiles reminding them of their appointments. It also allows patients to leave […]
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Report must ‘signal the end of the line for GPASS’
A long-awaited independent report on GPASS ‘must signal the end of the line’ for Scotland’s most commonly used GP system, BMA Scotland’s IT representative said today. After seeing a draft version of the pending Deloitte report on ‘General Practice Information Technology Options’, Dr Stuart Scott, deputy chairman and IT lead for the BMA’s Scottish General […]
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INPS surgeries to use iPlato text messaging
Primary care software supplier INPS has announced that surgeries across England that use its software will also have the opportunity to use iPlato’s patient alert text messaging system, thanks to a strategic alliance between the two companies. The Vision SMS system, which incorporates iPlato’s patient care text messaging system into INPS’s general practice software, is to be used by a number […]
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Guidance on exception reporting published
The publication of exception reporting data for the Quality and Outcomes Framework will reveal total numbers of patients excepted for each indicator but not the reasons behind the decisions. In new guidance on exception reporting NHS Employers and the British Medical Association say the software used to calculate practices’ performance in the QoF, such as […]
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Danish GPs enjoy the best IT systems, says study
Denmark is the most advanced country in the world for clinical information technology systems in primary care, health informatics luminary Professor Denis Protti has stated. Danish GPs are used to sending one another clinical information over their secure network; over 90% of clinical communications are exchanged in this way. The study estimated only 41 GPs […]
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