Expert view: Ian Herbert
After 38 years of involvement with NHS IT, Ian Herbert offers an informatician’s view of the white paper, ‘Liberating the NHS’.
Feature
DH reviews Dr Foster Intelligence
The future of Dr Foster Intelligence, the UK’s best known provider of hospital performance information and analysis, is under review by KPMG on behalf of the Department of Health and Dr Foster Holdings LLP.
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Unison may challenge white paper process
Health service union Unison is planning to seek a judicial review over the government’s plans for a massive reorganisation of the NHS. The union claims the government is acting unlawfully by giving primary care trusts and others advice on how they should start to implement the recent NHS white paper without consultation or Parliamentary support. […]
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NHS £86m website spend confusing
The NHS spends up to £86m a year on thousands of websites that are difficult to find, confusing for patients and which do not meet their needs, according to research commissioned for a Department of Health report. Research for the NHS Digital Communications Review, conducted by communications agency Precedent and leaked to the Health Service […]
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BMA says white paper a ‘curate’s egg’
The BMA has told its members it will ‘critically engage’ with the consultation on the white paper which it has described as good in parts.
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Information Centre wins in ALB review
The NHS Information Centre has come out of the Department of Health’s arms length body review with a promise that it will be put on a firmer statutory footing and given new responsibilities.
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Expert view: Paul Richardson
Blogger Paul Richardson wonders if the end of Microsoft’s big deal with the NHS will mean a new era for open source in healthcare.
Feature
GP consortia to start work this year
The Department of Health has spelled out its plans for the future of commissioning in a consultation that gives the NHS Commissioning Board a role in setting data and IT standards while predicting that a market will develop in commissioning support.
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Feeling liberated?
One week on from the publication of the coalition government’s NHS white paper, ‘Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS’, Sarah Bruce asks NHS staff with a particular interest in IT for their reaction.
Feature
Goals replace targets in DH paper
The Department of Health has set out its plans to scrap centrally, set performance managed targets – and to hold the NHS to account using ‘national outcome goals’.
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