PbR held back by NHS data failures
A new report into the progress of Payment by Results (PbR) has concluded that problems with the quality and timeliness of data remain significant barriers to the policy having more impact on NHS activity and efficiency. The Audit Commission report, The Right Result,singles out the Secondary Uses Service (SUS), developed by NHS Connecting for Health and […]
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NHS Comparators allows 18-week wait measuring
NHS organisations in England can now analyse their performance against the government’s 18-week wait target using a new service launched by NHS Comparators. The service also provides information from other NHS organisations so users can see how their organisation is performing in comparison to others. New sets of information added to the online service this […]
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PCTs to lead on NHS IMandT development
The NHS operating framework for 2008-2009 says that in the coming year local NHS organisations will be expected to build on the National Programme for IT local ownership programme (NLOP) with PCTs required to “further develop their leadership role”. It states that during the course of the current year “the transfer of resources from central […]
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Information Centre appoints new chief executive
The Information Centre (IC) for health and social care has appointed Tim Straughan, current acting chief executive, as its chief executive. Announcing the appointment, Mike Ramsden, chairman of The IC said: “I’m delighted to announce Tim’s appointment and believe he is the right person to lead The IC as it works to provide even greater […]
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Problems with SUS hamper commissioning
The Department of Health must resolve problems with the Secondary Uses Service if practice-based commissioning (PBC) is to succeed, according to the Audit Commission. The commission’s report on progress with PBC, Putting Commissioning into Practice, recommends that the DH reviews the adequacy and timeliness of the SUS’s ability to provide activity data for PBC. The […]
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Government rejects consent call for SUS use
The government has rejected calls from the Commons Health Select Committee to apply consent to the use of Secondary Uses Service data for research purposes, including information in ‘sealed envelopes’. In its official response to the committee’s report on the Electronic Patient Record the government says that the design of the Secondary Uses Services (SUS) […]
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SUS blasted as ‘not fit for purpose’
The Secondary Uses Service (SUS) is not fit for purpose and is failing to provide GP practices and PCTs with the information they need for practice based commissioning (PBC), according to the NHS Alliance. The criticism of SUS follows the results of the latest quarterly survey of PBC published by the Department of Health last […]
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BT’s big mission
In an exclusive interview BT Health’s managing director Patrick O’Connell updates EHI’s Jon Hoeksma how BT is progressing on its three NPfIT contracts.
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Debate over legality of Care Record Guarantee
British data protection laws used to create the Care Record Guarantee could fall foul of new European Commission data protection laws, adopted in February according to an international law expert. However, the view expressed to the parliamentary select committee on health by Douwe Korff, professor of international law at London Metropolitan University, was vigorously opposed […]
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CfH accredits NetTransform XML conversion system
Business intelligence specialist, Ardentia, has received accreditation from Connecting for Health for its data transmission system, NetTransform. The company claims to be the first to gain accreditation for its eXtensible Markup Language (XML) conversion system, which will be used to transmit data into the National Programme for IT national Secondary Uses Service (SUS) database. NetTransform is […]
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