Hampshire PCT outsources GP IT support
Hampshire PCT has outsourced its IT support for all GP practices in the county to health IT specialists Healthcare Computing. The company will now provide support to more than 180 sites across the PCT which is the largest primary care trust in the UK covering more than 700,000 patients. The PCT was already using Healthcare […]
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Guidance on computerised CBT launched
New implementation guidance for the use of computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (cCBT) for mild mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety has been launched by the Department of Health. The guidance is being released following the success of two demonstration sites in Doncaster and Newham, set up last May, which found that facilitating patients […]
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Clinical coding to be scrutinised in national audit
The Audit Commission is to undertake a national programme of clinical coding audit in the NHS in England that will affect every PCT, trust and foundation trust. The results of this national audit – due to start in 2007 and covering 74,000 episodes of care – could be put into a league table of error […]
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High scores on QoF, but wait for exception reporting
Almost one in ten GP practices earned maximum points from last year’s Quality and Outcomes Framework according to data published today. Statistics released by the Information Centre show that GPs increased their average performance in the second year of the QoF by nearly 5% with the average practice earning 1011 points out of the possible […]
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Avon and Wiltshire roll out controlled drug service
Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust has begun installing web-based software to help manage and track the dispensing of controlled drugs. Ascribe’s Substance Misuse Service is being rolled out in two of the mental health units in the trust; West Wiltshire Specialist Drug and Alcohol Service and North Somerset SDAS, with the next […]
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Asthma phone reviews won’t count for QOF
Telephone reviews for patients with asthma cannot count towards Quality and Outcome Framework targets, national arbitrators have ruled. The national Implementation Coordination Group (ICG) for the nGMS contract has decided that reviews must be conducted face-to-face following a dispute after two primary care trusts disallowed telephone claims. The ruling has been described as a "retrograde […]
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Asthma reviews by phone don’t count for QoF, say PCTs
National arbitrators for the GP contract are to rule on whether telephone reviews for patients with asthma can count towards Quality and Outcome Framework targets following two primary care trusts’ decision to disallow them. West Wiltshire PCT and Kennet and North Wiltshire PCT have told practices that telephone reviews for patients with asthma will not […]
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Common exception reporting standards called for
Exception reporting rates for the Quality and Outcomes Framework need to be subject to uniform standards to ensure as many patients as possible benefit from the framework, a GP has argued this week in the British Medical Journal. Dr Stephen Corcoran, a GP in north London, says in his letter that variations in exception reporting […]
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New QMAS software will focus on excluded patients
Changes to the payments software for the Quality and Outcomes Framework mean practices and primary care trusts will be able to check exception reporting details on the system from this autumn. Connecting for Health has announced changes to the functionality of the Quality Management and Analysis System (QMAS) including the addition of exception reporting information. […]
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QoF results publication likely in next two months
Quality and Outcomes Framework results for every practice in England and Scotland are likely to be published on government websites within the next two months, according to the organisations responsible for coordinating the data. An official from the Health and Social Care Information Centre in England, the body that will hold all Quality and Outcomes […]
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