Lord Hunt returns as NHS IT minister
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath is back at the Department of Health and will be taking ministerial responsibility again for NHS information technology after a gap of nearly four years. He replaces Lord Warner who retired last month saying that he wished to spend less time with his ministerial red despatch boxes. Lord Hunt will […]
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BCS calls for complete overhaul of NHS IT project
A new report from the British Computer Society has called for a fundamental rethink of the NHS IT programme, including putting one hold current plans for a national system of summary records and for the scope of NHS Care Records Service to fundamentally re-defined. Rather than attempt to build a monolithic national database of records […]
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Warner rejects call for CfH architecture review
Health minister Lord Warner has rejected calls from leading computer academics for an independent review of the technical architecture of the NHS national programme for IT. Speaking at a conference in London yesterday he said: "…I do not support at the call by 23 academics to the House of Commons Health Select Committee to commission […]
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IT staff jobs at risk in cuts to NHS Blood Service
Staff who have been developing and implementing a new blood tracking systems for the NHS Blood Service designed to improve patient safety have told E-Health Insider they have been warned they could soon be out of a job. Two weeks ago, Peter Garwood, head of the NHS Blood Service, announced that the 14 existing centres are […]
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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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MPs prescribe ‘rescue’ plan for NHS IT project
The government has been urged to rethink its £12.4bn NHS IT project, and replace its current highly centralised national strategy with a more flexible locally-based approach based on standards. Such an overhaul is prescribed as the only way to reduce the risks of the programme, enable useful local clinical systems to be delivered and prevent […]
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Guardian to challenge iSoft high court order
The Guardian newspaper reported today that it will challenge a high court order made in 2004 which limits its reporting of accounting issues at British healthcare software firm iSoft Group Plc. The news comes as a further blow to the software company at the heart of the £6.2bn NHS digitisation programme, with contracts to upgrade […]
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Nurses ‘losing enthusiasm’ for NHS IT reform
The number of nurses across the UK who believe in the benefits of IT reform in the NHS is falling, says the latest Nursix survey published by the Royal College of Nursing. Around 56% of nurses now say that IT reform is likely to improve clinical care and 49% agree that it will improve their […]
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Four new areas for IT policy named by DH
Four significant new areas for NHS information and IT policy are identified in the Department of Health’s new plans for commissioning services in England. The newly-published plan for the NHS commissioning framework says consultations with 150 stakeholders indicate that the patient-centred approach of the current information strategy is right – but four new areas for […]
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Press gang
Have long-running allegations of media bias against the National Programme for IT any basis in fact? IT journalist Michael Cross gives his perspective.
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