Pharmacists get access to PDS for EPS R2
Community pharmacists are to be issued with new smartcards to give them access to the Personal Demographics Service. NHS Connecting for Health and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee have released guidance on smartcard arrangements for Release 2 of the Electronic Prescription Service, which CfH expects to go live in 2009. More than 20,000 pharmacists already have […]
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European drugs to carry barcodes
Medicines sold across Europe will have to carry barcodes and other improved security mechanisms, under proposals unveiled by the European Commission to crack down on counterfeit drugs. The Commission says it aims to use technology to enable “total traceability" of all medicines bought in pharmacies or online. Even with the new measures, some repackaging will […]
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Expert view: beating malware
Mark Jackson, consulting systems engineer, Cisco Systems, argues that it’s time for a new approach.
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Kettering accelerates access to images
Kettering General Hospital has deployed WAN optimisation technology to transfer radiology files of up to 500Mb to a clinic 12 miles – and five LAN network hops – from its main campus. The trust says this has reduced image loading times by 80%, delivering significant cost savings, clinical benefits and leveraging the existing PACS and […]
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No more pins: digital signage in Birmingham
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust has deployed one of the UK’s largest digital signage networks. The Connectvision system from Saturn Communications Group will deliver visitor and internal information to 75 digital LCD screens and more than 5,000 desktop PCs. The trust says that on any one day, 10,000 patients, visitors and staff can be […]
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Lib Dems demand tougher data protection
The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Department of Health to publish minimum standards for the protection of data on mobile devices after compiling research on more than 150 cases of data loss in the NHS. The party used the Freedom of Information Act to ask strategic health authorities about ‘serious untoward incidents’ involving data […]
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Medica: Crisis? What crisis?
Is the health industry blind to economic reality and guilty of wishful thinking? Philipp Grätzel reports from Medica.
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CfH condemns smartcard sharing
One in six GPs claim that NHS staff in their area have shared smartcards, according to a survey by doctors’ magazine Pulse. The poll of more than 300 GPs found that one in six family doctors said they were aware of NHS staff sharing smartcards in their area, and one in 20 GPs admitted they […]
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Remote access across North Mersey
North Mersey Health Informatics Service has implemented a remote access solution for community-based clinicians, using laptops and 3G services. Already, 90 clinicians who work in Mersey Care Trust’s learning disabilities directorate have been equipped with lightweight laptops and 3G wireless data cards, allowing them to access clinical information systems, email and electronic diaries. An independent evaluation by […]
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Germany’s GEK picks Atos for e-health card
German health insurer, Gmünder ErsatzKasse (GEK), has signed a five-year deal with Atos World line, to implement and operate the new German electronic health card (EHC) on its behalf. During 2009, GEK plans to issue 30,000 cards per day in order to provide its 1.7million members in Germany with the new e-health card. Due to […]
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