EHI’s news roundup 13.06.08

E-Health Insider’s news round up for the week ending 13 June 2008 features new initiatives, supplier news, awards and newly published reports.

New websites and web tools:

Department of Health revises Health Inequalities National Intervention Tool

A revised Health Inequalities National Intervention Tool is to be launched to help areas identify local health inequalities and ways to tackle them. The tool was developed by the Association of Public Health Observatories and the DH.

Websites mark NHS 60th anniversary

Two new websites have been launched to mark the 60th anniversary of the NHS on 5 July. NHS Scotland has launched a website with information on a series of events in the coming weeks to be held around Scotland.

BT has also launched a new micro-site devoted to the anniversary, with information about its involvement with the NHS and features on the future.

Map of Medicine has 4,000 users in Wales

The Map of Medicine, an online clinical knowledge resource with more than 400 patient pathways, is being successfully implemented on a phased basis across Wales. The clinical pathways tool is now being used by more than 4,000 registered users.

Southwark Primary Care Trust re-launches website

Southwark Primary Care Trust has re-launched its website www.southwarkpct.nhs.uk. The new website contains more information about health in Southwark, advice, and information on how residents can become more involved in shaping local health services.

Supplier news:

Elekta launches 3D Virtual Clinic

Elekta has created a 3D Virtual Clinic to help radiation therapists, administrators, patients and investors to acquaint themselves with Elekta’s products and solutions see how they are interconnected. The clinic at allows users to follow the course of treatment for a patient undergoing lung treatment, from initial consultation, treatment planning and radiation treatment all the way through to completion in Elekta’s MOSAIQ patient management system.

Westover Medical offers members health e-cards

A new electronic health card has been launched by private healthcare provider Westover Medical. The credit-card sized card will allow members to store their medical history. The data will be accessed by connecting the card to any web-connected computer, and going through Westover’s secure website. Records will be password protected, and no data will be saved locally to ensure confidentiality.

Awards

Entries still open for BT e-Health Insider Awards 2008

New categories in the BT e-Health Insider Awards 2008 will reward excellent work by healthcare information and communications technology professionals in vital areas such as patient safety, security and wireless working. Details of the awards and online entry forms are at: http://www.ehealthawards.com/

CareTech wins business award

Learning difficulty specialist CareTech Holdings, have been named Best UK Family Business by private bankers Coutts.

Healthy Breathing Campaign wins data targeting award

The Healthy Breathing Campaign created by Dr Foster Intelligence Barnsley Primary Care Trust won the data targeting award at the annual Institute of Direct Marketing Business Performance Awards.

Liverpool Women’s CIO wins CIO of the Year award

Dr Zafar Chaudry of the Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust won the CIO of the Year award at theTechworld.com awards. The judges singled out the work that the trust has done in installing a Wi-Fi-enabled system within a tight timeframe to improve patient care, deliver speedy response for clinical data and cut operating costs considerably.

First DataBank Europe launches pharmacy IT awards

First DataBank Europe (FDBE), in association with The Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists (GHP) and the UK Clinical Pharmacy Association (UKCPA), has announced that nominations are open for the 2009 FDBE/GHP/UKCPA Information Technology Award. The award is to encourage, support and promote information technology initiatives and best practice in the use of IT in hospital pharmacy. To apply visit www.ukcpa.org or www.ghp.org.uk.

Research Reports

EHI publishes new report focusing 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.