First NPfIT deployment plans released
The £6.2 billion National Programme for IT (NPfIT) has published a summary of its deployment plans for the first time, indicating what new IT systems are intended to be deployed to NHS organisations and by when, writes Jon Hoeksma. According to the plan, which is available here, deployment of hospital administration and clinical systems will begin […]
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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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NAO finds Choose and Book running late
Technical problems, delays in delivering upgrades and failure to engage GPs means the roll-out of Choose and Book, the national electronic appointment booking system, is behind schedule and, at best, will only offer 60-70% availability by the end of 2005. As a result the Government target to deliver patient choice by the end of the […]
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EMIS sets out its version of ‘fact and fiction’
Primary Care systems supplier EMIS has issued its customers with a briefing about its relationship with the NHS National Programme for IT, claiming it has been frozen out of the National Programme with GPs penalised if they wish to retain or move to EMIS systems. While the document, entitled ‘Fact not Fiction’, says that EMIS remains fully supportive of […]
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NPfIT puts availability statistics online
The National Programme for IT have started to publish uptime statistics on their website for the data spine, N3 and Choose and Book, as well as the local North-East cluster’s SAP service, as provided by Accenture. Monthly and weekly uptime statistics are available, stretching back to September for the national services and November for the […]
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First NPfIT SAP system uses data spine
Software that operates using a working version of the data spine has been installed by Accenture under the NPfIT in trusts in Newcastle and Northumberland to support the Single Assessment Process (SAP) for older people. SAP was introduced under the National Service Framework for older people in 2001 to increase the share of data between […]
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Granger: “Fewer than 100” referrals made on ebooking
Richard Granger, Director General of the National Programme for IT, has said that the national programme remains on schedule to help deliver a fully booked NHS by the end of 2005 despite fewer than 100 bookings having yet been made on the Choose and Book electronic appointment booking system. Nevertheless, Granger confirmed that "we […]
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GPC says key questions unresolved on Choose and Book
The General Practitioner Committee (GPC) of the British Medical Association has written to GPs advising them that it has serious concerns about Choose and Book, the national electronic appointment booking service, relating to the confidentiality and security of patient information and workload and resource implications of the new system. In a cautionary guidance note issued […]
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Choose and Book faces potential “show stoppers”
Implementation of Choose and Book (CaB), the national electronic appointment booking service, is experiencing serious teething problems with only a very basic, stand alone “naked" version of the e-booking application used so far. One of the pilot sites in Barnsley is understood to have put a freeze on using the main CaB application due to concerns […]
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NPfIT: engagement on electronic referrals will wait
National engagement over electronic referrals will only come “when the time is right", namely when the system is fully operational, a spokesperson from the National Programme for IT told a conference in London. Claire Mitchell, group programme director for Booking & Choice at the national programme, told delegates at Clinical Information Systems and Electronic Records and e-Health […]
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