Labour to publish government contracts
The government will publish online all public service contracts worth more than £20,000 by the end of 2010, Gordon Brown has said in a speech on Building Britain’s Digital Future.
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SCR opt-out letters would confuse
The risk that patients would misread opt-out forms for the Summary Care Record and send them to the wrong address has led to them being excluded from patient information packs, Connecting for Health has told GPs.
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Hants GP wants explicit consent for SCR
A GP practice in Hampshire has recorded opt-out requests for the Summary Care Record from 20% of its patients, having pledged not to upload any records without explicit consent.
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Access problems with NHS Appraisal site
GPs are reporting problems accessing the NHS Appraisal Toolkit, which was restored by the Department of Health last week following concerns about the security of the system. Around 10,000 GPs a day are attempting to log-on to the site as their deadlines for appraisals approach. But they have faced problems with passwords, the speed of […]
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No boundaries plan needs shared records
The abolition of GP practice boundaries will increase the importance of shared medical records, according to the Department of Health. The DH has launched a consultation on its plans to scrap GP practice boundaries which it argues will meet demand from a “significant minority” of patients to move to a different practice. The consultation looks at […]
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NHS Appraisal site back online
The Department of Health has restored the NHS Appraisal Toolkit website which was taken offline last month after routine checks revealed it could be vulnerable to hackers. The website was suspended by the DH after it said the nine year old system “was not sufficiently robust to withstand modern day hacking." The DH said ministers were […]
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NHS to be using NHSmail by 2013
The head of the NHSmail programme has said that he wants “most” NHS organisations to have migrated to NHSmail by the time its current contract expires in July 2013.
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Half of GP practices judged by patients
More than 50% of GP practices have now been commented on or rated by patients on NHS Choices, according to the Department of Health. Latest figures show that patients have rated or left a comment about 4,661 out of 8,300 GP practices in England since website launched its GP ratings functionality in October. A total […]
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Hacker fears close NHS Appraisal website
The NHS Appraisal Toolkit has been taken offline for almost a month following concerns about its vulnerability to hackers. The toolkit, which was established nine years ago, was taken down at 4pm on Tuesday afternoon after “routine testing” showed that certain aspects are “not sufficiently robust to withstand modern day hacking.” In a statement the Department […]
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NHS Choices to publish Quality Accounts
The Department of Health has approved plans for healthcare providers to publish annual Quality Accounts on the NHS Choices website in an effort to increase accountability, drive quality and improve patient choice. The plans follow a three month public consultation, which finished in December, on the proposed framework for Quality Accounts, ahead of the legal […]
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