EHI’s industry round-up 23.12.2010

In the final industry round-up of 2010, E-Health Insider has news of a new health lead for BT, product launches, partnerships and company contract wins.

BT announces new health lead

BT Global Services has announced a number of new appointments to lead teams in banking and financial markets, government and health, consumer packaged goods and manufacturing, and logistics and pharmaceuticals. Neil Rogers has been appointed to lead on global government and health. He was global chief procurement officer for the BT group, in which role he achieved significant cost savings and performance improvements.

Macmillan nurses use MediSpeech and G2

Macmillan nurses working in NHS Northumbria have implemented a MediSpeech speech recognition-based dictation and transcription system. It allows nurses to share a central information system when they are working across different sites by allowing notes being kept on a central server. Amanda Walshe, Macmillan breast care nurse specialist at NHS Northumbria said: “It is now quicker and easier to record our notes. Not only do patients no longer have to wait so long to get their letters but we can also paste our notes straight into the national Somerset Cancer Register (SCR) which is a single database used to assist in diagnosis and management. 

Salford PCT implements centralised asset register

Salford Primary Care Trust has implemented Asset4000 from Real Asset Management to manage its fixed assets worth £43m. The system has enabled the trust to develop a robust, centralised asset register to improve reporting processes and save time by eliminating manual data entry. Karen Pickersgill said: “The trust has to report to the SHA and I am tasked with adding detail regarding the fixed assets to the larger report. Asset4000 simply allows me to run an accurate, real-time report and I can fully trust the data provided. This saves a great deal of time, as I can pick out the data required and input this into the formal report.”

St George’s and Stockport sign with Allocate

St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust and Stockport NHS Foundation Trust have signed a deal withAllocate Software for its e-Rostering solution. The system delivers advanced functionality across rostering, time and attendance recording with the electronic staff record to streamline administrative processes. Steve Loveridge, eRP project manager, St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust said: "After testing the product in different scenarios across multiple staffing groups, we found that Healthroster was able to offer us an integrated solution able to manage the entire workforce management process."

FIRST DataBank launches FirstLight meds tool

First DataBank’s new online medicines reference tool, FIRSTLight, is now live and the company is offering a free extended trial until the end of January 2011. Polly Shepperdson, product manager at First DataBank, said: "We introduce FIRSTlight in direct response to requests from individual clinicians and trusts for instant access to First DataBank’s complete electronic medicines information.” FIRSTLight iPhone and iPad applications will also be available in early 2011.

BigHand launches BigHand for Healthcare version 3.5

Digital dictation and speech recognition specialist BigHand has launched BigHand for Healthcare version 3.5, which includes a number of enhancements to streamline workflow and make systems quicker and easier to use. These include the speech recognition pre-enrolment tool, which enables users to ‘train’ the system using existing dictations and documents, and reduce the time it takes to train it in their voice profile.

Cloud2 sells Windows slate to NHS

Cloud2 has announced it will market the Windows 7 Professional-based SL8 slate computer to the NHS. The device, which is slightly bigger than an iPad but which can act as a full Windows PC, is manufactured by Zoostorm. Cloud2 director Simon Hudson said: “We recognise that these first generation slates aren’t perfect – they aren’t as designed specifically for the clinical environment, so they lack some of the features of the Toughbooks, for example. However, we have identified a Bluetooth smart card reader to work with them and a waterproof, wipe clean capacitive case for use in infection risk areas.” He said they should also appeal to the NHS because they have touch screens, yet can run NHS software ‘out of the box’, and they have fast boot up time with good battery life.

Aeroscout announces sterilisable RFID tag

AeroScout has unveiled a Wi-Fi RFID tag for tracking surgical equipment through its entire lifecycle from sterilisation to the operating room. AeroScout’s Autoclave Tags, which can be attached to track surgical instruments, withstand rigorous sterilisation processes including ultrasonic cleaning, high pressure liquid sterilisation and steam autoclaving. In addition, the tag is designed to deliver a battery life of two years.

Perceptive Software and BridgeHead form partnership

Perceptive Software has announced a partnership with BridgeHead Software to manage clinical and administrative data at healthcare facilities in North America and Europe. The partnership will help connect healthcare staff with critical information by combining Perceptive Software’s ImageNow enterprise content management solution with BridgeHead’s storage virtualisation capabilities.