Healthcare IT news in brief

This week’s industry round-up includes the news that all trusts are now members of GS1 UK and some interesting wins for UK companies abroad.

All trusts now registered as members of GS1 UK

GS1 UK has announced that all 154 acute trusts in England are now registered as members, as mandated by the Department of Health’s eProcurement strategy, and advocated by the Interim Carter Review of operational efficiency in the NHS. GS1 UK is now working with the Department of Health, NHS England, industry and trusts to make sure that its standards are implemented across the supply chain.

Contract wins, UK

Alliance Medical to work with Intelerad

Alliance Medical has announced that it will deploy Intelerad Medical Systems’ IntelePACS across its national network of diagnostic imaging centres and mobile imaging units in the UK. Alliance Medical provide services to around 400,000 patients in the UK each year, from 50 centres and 40 mobile scanners, and has a ten year contract to deliver PET/CT services to NHS patients from NHS England.

Genomics England picks Cognizant as a technology partner

Genomics England has added Cognizant to its list of technology partners for the 100,000 Genomes Project, which is looking to sequence 100,000 whole genomes from NHS patients and families. Cognizant will provide end-to-end systems integration and analytics services for the technology platform being built by Genomics England, to help develop its capacity to process samples, interpret findings, and optimise business processes.

York implements Soliton Reporting+

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has implemented Reporting+ from Soliton IT. Reporting+ is a module of Soliton IT’s radiology information system, Radiology+, that can be used by trusts that are not in a position to replace their entire RIS. York is now better able to prioritise tests and reports and the new voice recognition engine – SpeechMagic from Nuance – has helped to eliminate delays caused by the previous audio transcription service.

Contract wins, abroad

Patientrack returns home to New Zealand

Canterbury and West Coast District Health Boards in New Zealand are to implement a patient observation and alert response system from Patientrack. The system will be used by ten hospitals to track more than a million patient observations a year, and to calculate early warning scores.

Patientrack was the idea of a New Zealand intensive care specialist, and has since been developed by the UK company of the same name, which has deployed it into a number of NHS hospitals. The first New Zealand implementation is underway at Christchurch Hospital, which expects to roll it out across all its wards over the next six months.

Silverlink Software to improve cancer care in Sweden

Silverlink, in collaboration with RxEye – a provider of diagnostic imaging solutions – has signed a deal with the Regional Cancercentrum Stockholm-Gotland and Karolinska University Hospital to improve the co-ordination of colorectal cancer care in the region.

The move will see Silverlink’s Multi-Disciplinary Treatment Management solution implemented as a component of RxEye’s cloud platform to enable the exchange of patient information between multi-disciplinary teams working in different locations. MDTM is a module of CancerPlan, data capture and patient monitoring system that is used in the UK. Silverlink hopes to extend the product’s capabilities and implement it in additional sites in the Nordic countries.

Acquisitions

HCI Group acquires High Resolution Consulting and Resourcing

The HCI Group, a services consultancy, has acquired High Resolution Consulting and Resourcing. In a statement, it said the move was intended to broaden its international footprint, by combining High Resolution’s expertise in the UK market with HCI Group’s experience of global markets.

Greg Jones, president of HCI Group said: “High Resolution has supported dozens of NHS trusts and other healthcare organisations in the UK in developing effective IT strategies and implementing electronic patient records. That dovetails nicely with the HCI Group’s significant experience in US clinical software that is now being adopted internationally.”

Company research

Nuance survey says Millennials will change healthcare

A report from Nuance has argued that the ‘baby boomer’ and ‘millennials’ generations have different expectations of services and different behaviours when it comes to accessing and reporting back on them that healthcare systems need to account for.

In particular, the report argues that millennials are more likely to use online information and services, to respond to internet and social network reviews, and to share negative experiences with their personal networks. The report, part of an Art of Medicine series, argues that healthcare services will need to respond to online demands and reviews; in order to secure their reputation and support for tax-funding.