EHI’s news roundup 15.08.08

Supplier news

Contract wins

Worcestershire selects Double-Take Software protection software

Double-Take Software has been selected by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust to protect its critical IT systems. Double-Take says its Full-Server Failover Option will provide a layer of high availability for the trust’s physical and virtual servers, in a project that will be rolled out over two months.

Lincolnshire reduces traffic bottlenecks with Plixer

Lincolnshire NHS Shared Services is using software from network specialists, Plixer, to help control bandwidth and identify which users and applications are bottlenecking traffic on the network. The software, installed by IT firm Teneo, delivers detailed real-time reporting to show each user’s bandwidth usage and peaks and troughs in network traffic.

Walsall gets remote IT maintenance from RealVNC

Walsall NHS Informatics IT Services has chosen RealVNC’s Virtual Network Computing solution to provide remote IT maintenance and support. Using RealVNC’s latest enterprise software, the informatics department can remotely troubleshoot and fix PC desktops and back-end servers across its core sites and GP surgeries.

Buckinghamshire to deploy TalkingPoint speech recognition

Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust has awarded GHG Software Developments a contract to implement TalkingPoint for Radiology speech recognition system throughout the trust, where it will be used at a number of key sites including High Wycombe and Stoke Mandeville hospitals. The system integrates with the CRIS 6.12 radiology information system and the GE PACS, and aims to improve clinical turn-around times and bring significant cost savings to the trust.

Welsh NHS will be able to procure online

Clinicians and other NHS staff in Wales will be able to conduct procurement exercises online in the future. The Welsh Assembly government has agreed a four year deal with supply management software specialists, BravoSolution, to deliver a new web-based electronic tendering system. The partnership is part of a transformation of procurement across the public sector in Wales that will see BravoSolution providing eSourcing solutions including eTendering, eEvaluation, Vendor Management and eContract Management through the xchangewales – eTendering web portal – www.etenderwales.bravosolution.com.

Social Networking

New section on DIPEx for patients from black and ethnic backgrounds

People from black and minority ethnic backgrounds are sharing their experiences and giving their views about how mental health services could be improved on a new section of the award winning charity website, DIPEx. As well as acting as a source of support and information, the DIPEx site is also widely used in teaching health professionals, helping them to understand users’ and carers’ perspectives and needs.

Partnerships

McKesson partners with AdviserPlus

Healthcare IT solutions and services specialists, McKesson UK, has announced a partnership with AdviserPlus Business Solutions, a provider of HR and business services. AdviserPlus offers Intelligent HR, a bespoke service for line managers delivered in the name of the internal HR team. The system will be available as a standalone service or a complementary add-on to McKesson Shared Services, which handles transactional activity for NHS trusts using the Electronic Staff Record.

Research Reports

EHI report on web 2.0

Internet developments that brought us sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia are now set to revolutionise healthcare, according to a new research report from E-Health Insider. Titled ‘Web 2.0 in the Health Sector: Industry Review with a UK perspective’ the report concludes that new applications based on social health networks and content generated by health service users themselves will rapidly evolve to challenge existing healthcare systems and create new ways of delivering our healthcare. An executive summary of the ‘Web 2.0 in the Health Sector: Industry Review with UK Perspective’ report is available here.