Warning to trusts on NPfIT costs
The Audit Commission and National Audit Office have warned that the National Programme for IT will be a new risk for NHS organisations to deal with in this financial year, calling the additional costs "considerable." The two bodies’ joint report, "Financial Management in the NHS" says that the money will have to come from […]
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PACS tomorrow
Daloni Carlisle reports for E-Health Insider on why PACS delivery is slower than expected, and reveals that affordability is mostly to blame.
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Tag team care
Colin Jervis of Kinetic Consulting examines some of the innovative ways that RFID tags are being used in patient care and health administration.
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This time it’s personal
Why do we need electronic health records, anyway? Gerry Yantis and Manuel Lowenhaupt of CapGemini argue that the challenges faced in implementing them shouldn’t detract from their importance.
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UK doctors could sign off American online drug orders
A Canadian online pharmacies’ lobby has announced that many of its members plan on moving their business to the UK if tough legislation planned by the federal Canadian government outlaws co-signing of medication by doctors without the patients being present. David MacKay, head of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA), told the Financial Times that […]
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OGC publishes new standard public IT contract terms
The Office of Government Commerce has announced new standard contract terms which are aimed at speeding up the tendering process for public sector IT. Two standard sets of terms and conditions have been produced after consulting with government departments and the IT industry; one for goods and supplies, and the other for services. The sets […]
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DH hoping for 50% takeup of new Xansa deal
The Department of Health has announced final details of its NHS shared financial services partnership with IT services firm Xansa, and is expecting half of the eligible NHS organisations to sign up over the next ten years. The public-private joint venture partnership will see Xansa taking over work from NHS Shared Financial Services, a centralised […]
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RFID tags on medication introduced in US
US regulators the Food and Drug Administration have released guidance for the attachment of RFID tags to drug packaging in order to ensure “that the drugs available in the United States are among the safest in the world." “Radio Frequency Identification technology is an innovative response to the challenge of counterfeit drugs," said Health and […]
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Microsoft signs new software deal with NPfIT
Health minister John Hutton has announced a three-year software licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming savings for the NHS of up to £112m over the next three years. The Department of Health (DH) says that the NHS will save a whopping £330 million over the lifetime of the deal, thanks to tight negotiations led by the National […]
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Open source software could save NHS money
The Office of Government Commerce has made recommendations that public procurement of software should consider open source solutions, citing, amongst other case studies, the experience of a Dublin-based hospital that made significant savings in transferring all its software to open source. The report says that public sector bodies should “examine carefully the technical and business […]
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