GP Computing

A Paperless NHS

Given the usual scant regard to the commonly accepted meaning of words that seems to be the norm in the NHS – “Paperless” is something that we now have in the majority of general practices and that many have had for some years and I’m really enthusiastic about the desire from the centre to drag the rest…

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Patient record access – A spur to innovation

I’ve been involved in one of the working groups which are part of the RCGP-Led Online Patient Access Project,  which has been funded by DH to help deliver on the Government’s promise to deliver online access for all to their GP records and a range of associated transactional services by 2015. As part of this…

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GP System Change

As the current arrangements for the supply of GP systems under the NPfIT and GPSoC come to an end GPs maybe thinking about a potential system change. In particular some emerging CCGs are promoting system change to achieve a single system on their patch, but my advice would be to wait and I say this…

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NHS Hack Day – Making an Old Man Happy

I’ve been fortunate enough to fall in with some of those young clinicians and developers organising NHS Hack Day (actually two days 26/27 May 2012 in Central London) http://nhshackday.com and I think this is one of the most exciting things to happen in Health IT for many years. It also fit well with my latest…

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Future Funding of GP Computing

I’ve have heard Katie Davis (no relation), the new head of the DH Informatics Directorate, speak twice in the last few days and on both occasions she has stressed the Government’s desire to create a vibrant market for the suppliers of Health IT systems. This is very much to be welcomed. Current arrangements for the…

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Lessons from GP Computing

UK GP computing leads the way globally in the application of clinical computing at the point-of-care and for many years was the only example of the widespread implementation of clinical computing at the couch-face. It is interesting to examine why GP computing was, and still is, much more successful than clinical computing elsewhere in the…

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Analytics – Whose data is it anyway?

There are a growing number of techniques which might be described by the term “health analytics” which are able to use patient data (generally pseudonymised) for a range of valuable purposes which can help identify opportunities to delver more appropriate, better quality and more cost-effective care. With the challenges healthcare faces using information more intelligently…

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Everything you wanted to know about GP Consortia IT

I organised what I think was the first national GP computing exhibition in 1981 for the GP Computer Suppliers Association  (now part of Intellect) it was a sell out and I have been trying to organise another sell out event  without success ever since. However, with the BCS Primary Health Info Conference I am helping…

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English GP Systems Market

I’ve been looking at some statistics on the GP market in England which may be of interest. Recent years have seen a considerable consolidation in the market and although there were never the number of suppliers that some of the literature suggests (The peak was probably about 40 suppliers who had sold at least one…

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