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  Please click on the logos above of the UKeHA's Premier Members |
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| News in Brief | UKeHA Update | ||||||
| Avienda join UKeHA Chairman's Circle The UKeHA is delighted to welcome Avienda, the specialist provider of professional services in telemedicine and eHealth technologies, to the Chairman’s Circle and Industry Advisory Board. Avienda provide professional services that enable their clients to overcome the hurdles they face in using or supplying these technologies and allow them to do this safely, effectively and profitably. For further information, visit www.avienda.co.uk or contact Benedict Stanberry on 02920 462 323. Forthcoming UK Events: 9-10 September 2003 Clinical Information Systems and Electronic Records Conference 2003, London. For more information, contact Healthcare Events on 0208 541 1399 or visit www.healthcare-events.co.uk/cis2003. Alternatively, email info@healthcare-events.co.uk. 19 September 2003 2003 CIPSIG Conference: Computing & Informatics in Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, London. For further information visit www.cimh.org.uk 22-23 September 2003 eCare National Conference, Edinburgh. For further information, contact Blythe Robertson on 0131 244 2624 or email ecare@scotland.gsi.gov.uk 16-17 October 2003 eHealth 2003: Implementing Technology in Healthcare: Third Annual Conference and Exhibition, London. For further information visit: www.eHealthexpo.co.uk    |
UKeHA SME’s Forum Meeting
Small to medium sized companies attending the first specialist interest group for SMEs at the Royal Society of Physicians discussed the new procurement process being put in place by the National Programme for IT, which will see the establishment of Local Service Providers and National Application Service Providers. Jon Melling, Managing Director of HealthSystems Consultants Limited, was a main speaker and outlined ideas on dealing with LSPs and NASPs. Chris Lawrance, Director of JBP Public Relations, a UKeHA Chairman Circle member, also highlighted how a proactive and focussed media relations programme could raise the profile of SMEs and help support business development. It was agreed that the Group would meet on a monthly basis and create their own identity and mission statement. For further information, email Mike McCurry at treasurer@ukeha.org.uk. The UKeHA’s AGM Event The UKeHA Annual General Meeting, which will be combined with a Networking meeting, will take place in London on 23 September, 2003. At the time of going to press, the venue is yet to be confirmed and details will be circulated when arrangements have been finalised. For further information, email Mike McCurry at treasurer@ukeha.org.uk. The eHealth Alliance An alliance between the main representative bodies in the telemedicine and eHealth sector has been proposed. The group, which will be known as The eHealth Alliance, will include both Full members, membership organisations which are specifically active in telemedicine and eHealth, and Associate/Observer members, consisting of relevant organisations which do not have a specific focus on telemedicine and eHealth. Full members of the proposed eHealth Alliance include RSM, UKeHA, IHM, Assist, BCS and IeHA. The planned activities of The eHealth Alliance are to include a joint bulletin, which will cover educational and current events, as well as providing information from the proposed eHealth Alliance members; targeted educational events, and promoting eHealth in general; a major annual eHealth conference, to provide members with an opportunity to pool their resources; and a coalition of websites (CEW). The next meeting of The eHealth Alliance will be held in September, by which time it is expected that the members will have discussed membership with their own organisations. A decision will be taken about setting up a formal eHealth Alliance. For further information, email Mike McCurry at treasurer@ukeha.org.uk. UKeHA Home Healthcare Special Interest Group 
The UKeHA has established a Home Healthcare Special Interest Group, to identify healthcare challenges facing the NHS and to promote the benefits of Home Healthcare solutions for Health & Social care. The priority is to keep people in their own homes when ill, frail, vulnerable or disabled rather than in nursing, assisted homes or hospital. The specialist group, which includes representatives from the NHS, Tunstall, Docobo, SmartSensor and Home TeleHealth Ltd, will approach health ministers and organisations such as the DTI and the Modernisation Agency with the aim of raising awareness of this relatively new industry, and to attract funding for the development of Home Healthcare. The group will also use seminars and conferences to showcase the benefits of Home Healthcare, along with a targeted PR campaign and links with the UKeHA website. Anyone interested in attending the next meeting, which will be held in Bristol on the 24th July, should email Peter Range at peter.range@blueyonder.co.uk. |
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| News in Brief | Members News | ||||||
National award for Telemedic Systems TeleMedic Systems has won a national award for innovative use of technology. The VitaLink 1200, a portable remote medical monitoring device for isolated communities, was the winner of the Wireless category at the eWell-Being Awards for its use of wireless devices and networks for social and environmental benefit.For further information, please contact Julie Parmenter on 0207 419 7327 or email: jparmenter@bbpr.com Embracing technology for health The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), in collaboration with Bournemouth University, recently held an eHealth regional meeting to mark the first step in fulfilling its vision to promote active regional e-Health groups across the UK. Held in Glasgow, the meeting brought together novice nurses, who came to learn more about eHealth, and advanced practitioners, already using information and communication technologies (ICT) as an integral part of their daily practice. Other stakeholders included nurse educators, research nurses, Local Authorities personnel and policy makers. A full report of the presentation will be available at www.rcn.org.uk shortly. For further information please contact: Mr Sharon Levy, Informatics Adviser, Royal College of Nursing at sharon.levy@rcn.org.uk Motion video used in international teleHealth solution Visual communications specialist, Motion Media, has announced a contract to supply video communication solutions to international telemedicine provider Medic4All. The contract will involve the introduction of Motion Media's Carestation 110 set top box to the existing patient monitoring range in Medic4all's telemedicine centres around the world, including Italy, Israel and the UK. As the CareStation 110 has a dedicated data channel, which is used to transfer data from a wide range of medical peripherals, Medic4all's data management capabilities will be greatly enhanced, allowing patients, doctors and medical institutions easy access to data that can be retrieved from anywhere in the world.  |
UK teleHealth expertise prescribed for Belgium
 Videophones designed in the UK by leading visual technology specialists Motion Media Technology have been selected to develop the ‘teleHealth’ sector in Belgium, allowing more patients to be treated in the comfort of their own homes. A particular benefit for elderly patients, the videophones operate in conjunction with other medical devices allowing doctors to monitor patients’ heart rates and other vital signs remotely, whilst also enabling face-to-face consultations with the patients. Proxihealth Technics, Belgium’s first dedicated telemedicine company, has selected Motion Media’s range of video communication products to complement its existing telemedicine solutions, which it currently provides to local health institutions. “The remote diagnosis and measurement of health symptoms and vital signs enables healthcare providers to make operational efficiencies whilst offering patients a fast response health service, without the need for travel by patient, doctor or carer,” comments Diederick Geerinckx, Managing Director of Proxihealth Technics, Belgium. For further information visit www.motion-media.com DOC@HOME selected by City University  City University in London has chosen Doc@Home, developed by Docobo, the manufacturer and supplier of remote clinical data gathering and healthcare management services, for a nine-month home-based patient monitoring evaluation. Involving 300 patients, the remote evaluation forms part of a Euro 1.2m EU-funded project called REALITY, which looks into the quality of life and management of living resources needed to allow people to live independently. To complete the evaluation, the Centre for Measurement and Information in Medicine (MIM Centre) at City University will work in conjunction with a GP in South London, a cardiologist in Estonia as well as both an urban and rural hospital in Portugal. Seventy-five patients will be monitored in each of these four centres. For further information, contact Adrian Flowerday on 01372 363 747 or visit www.docobo.co.uk.New solutions from Tunstall  Tunstall, Europe’s leading teleHealth and telecare specialist, showcased a number of new products at the recent Chartered Institute of Housing Annual Conference and Exhibition in Harrogate. They included the Bed/Chair Occupancy Sensor, which can detect if someone has got out of bed and not returned within a configurable time period; and the Wandering Client Detector, which monitors exit points within a property to provide an alert when a resident leaves their dwelling. Contact Richard Smith at Tunstall for further information on 01977 661 234 or email: rj_smith@tunstall.co.uk |
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| News in Brief | NHS IT News | ||||||
| eCare Programme Newsletter The eCare Programme, part of the Scottish Executive Health Department, has launched a new quarterly newsletter called “eCare Newsletter”. For further information, contact Blythe Robertson on 0131 244 2624 or email blythe.Robertson@ scotland.gsi.gov.uk. New appointment  Sandra Betney has been appointed as the new Director of Finance and Procurement for the NHS Information Authority.For further information, visit Inform at www.nhsia.nhs.uk New email service Doctors, nurses and NHS staff can now pick up their personal NHS mail accounts from home or work. Launched on NHSnet in February, the new centrally-managed email and directory service also became available via the internet in early April, making it possible to access NHSmail from any internet-connected computer. For further information, visit Inform at www.nhsia.nhs.uk or call 08453 66 00 66. Event: 25 November 2003 NHS ICT & Informatics Professionals Conference: QE11 Conference Centre, Westminster. For further information, contact Siobhan.Roberts@ nhsia.nhs.uk  |
Mobile Phones to send X-ray Images
At a Welsh hospital, mobile phone technology is being used to speed up patients’ treatment in orthopaedics. The Royal Glamorgan Hospital is using mobile phones to send picture messages of an X-ray, when the specialist is not in the hospital. The specialist can then have a discussion with colleagues about diagnosis and give advice on the next steps. Before this development was introduced, X-ray images were sent by Telex or by taxi. Using picture messaging supports the existing practice in the hospital of using specialist opinion and discussion. All the pictures sent are modified to safeguard patients’ personal details. The hospital has conducted a formal trial and the results are encouraging. Source: HFHT 27 June 2003, via NHS Health Informatics Community at http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/informatics NPfIT Procurement reaches next stage The NPfIT has now notified the successful candidates who have progressed from the pre-qualification stage of the procurement process. Of the original pre-qualification list of 31 organisations, 22 have been long-listed as potential Local Service Providers (LSPs) and eight as potential National Application Service Providers (NASPs). There are a total of five LSP contracts available. These organisations, comprising both individual companies and consortia, now form the formal ‘long list’. They will also, by now, have received a copy of the initial Output Based Specification for phase 1 of the Integrated Care Records Service (ICRS). For further information, contact Benedict Payne or Steven Brassey on 0207 861 3192 or email npfitpressoffice@goodrelations.co.uk. e-Booking shortlist The NPfIT has announced the shortlisting of the final three candidates for the National Application Service Provider (NASP) contract for an electronic booking system for England. These three organisations will shortly receive the second invitation to tender and it is anticipated that the final contract will be awarded in September. The NASP will design and build the electronic booking ‘solution’ that will operate across the NHS and give patients greater choice and convenience over booking their hospital appointments. For further information, contact Benedict Payne or Steven Brassey on 0207 861 3192 or email npfitpressoffice@goodrelations.co.uk. Performance healthchecks for Acute Trusts and PCTS Online information that allows NHS Trust managers to run a ‘healthcheck’ on the performance of their Trust is now available. Organisation Healthcheck is a national service, recently launched by the NHS Information Authority, which allows Trusts to identify poor performance areas, such as waiting levels, length of patient stay and cost efficiency, without having to gather data from a multitude of different sources. For further information, visit Inform at www.nhsia.nhs.uk or call 08453 66 00 66. |
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| News in Brief | Global Roundup | ||||||
| Punjab Creates Telemedicine Network According to Punjab Health Minister, Dr Tahir Ali Javed, all the district headquarters of Punjab will soon be connected with teaching hospitals through telemedicine technology. The aim is to help doctors in diagnosing and treating patients all over the province while sitting in Lahore. For further information, visit www.dailytimes.com.pk/ default.asp?page=story_ 27-3-2003_pg7_47 The birth of the internet school nurses Schools in the US that can’t afford healthcare workers on site are starting to opt for telemedicine as an alternative solution. In many cash-strapped Midwest schools, health assistants are being aided by high-resolution cameras and speedy Internet connections to help provide remote nursing services to schools without nurses and those situated in rural areas. For further information, go to www.atsp.org/news/ spo.asp?contentID= 1351&FullStory=. CD-Rom Teleconference Library The Association of TeleHealth Service Providers (ATSP) CD-Rom Teleconference Library offers the most recent conference proceedings on CD-Rom. Each CD-Rom contains audio recordings of all conference sessions, along with their accompanying PowerPoint presentations. For further information, visit http://www.atsp.org/ publications/teleHealth_ cdrom.asp New Report on Telemedicine in India The third in a series of reports studying the Indian healthcare sector, “Telemedicine in India”, is now available. For more information visit: Federal Telemedicine News at http://www.cbloch.com. |
Make a “WebVisit” appointment
The Greater Cincinnati Associated Physicians (GCAP), based in Ohio, is piloting a programme that will allow patients to consult with physicians online for non-urgent medical matters. Humana and UnitedHealthcare patients are to trial the service for a year from four of its offices. Patients can consult with doctors on non-urgent health concerns through a “webVisit”. Physicians will then write electronic prescriptions and send them to nearly any pharmacy in the country. Patients will be able to receive lab test results, schedule or cancel appointments, and also request a referral. In addition, patients are able to create an online health record and access reviewed medical articles through their personal Relay Health web page. Source: Cincinnati Business Courier, May 9, 2003, via the Telemedicine Information Exchange - What's New, http://tie.telemed.org/news TeleHealth Takes to the Sea  Innovation in telemedicine continues unabated. In the US, the Maine Sea Coast Mission is one programme that has created a groundbreaking and successful way to use teleHealth. On the sparsely populated, and difficult to reach coast of Maine, islanders are now being served by a 72-foot vessel, Sunbeam V, which not only delivers food, clothing, and medical supplies, but also teleHealth services.The vessel now has a registered nurse on board complete with telemedicine equipment. For further information, visit http://atsp.org/member_only/newsletter_spring2003.aspRobots Get Scrubbing A spin out company from Columbia University, Robotic Surgical Tech Inc. (RST), has developed the Penelope Robotic Scrub Nurse System with speech recognition, machine vision and robotic arm path planning and targeting. Hospitals will save money by automating the scrub nurse function, enabling hospitals to allocate nurse resources directly to patient care. One robotic scrub nurse can replace up to three shifts of human personnel. The robot will also alleviate chronic staffing problems and financial inefficiencies that result from the unpredictable demand for the Operating Room, as emergency situations and add-on cases can create changes in demand. For more information, go to: Federal Telemedicine News at http://www.cbloch.com. |
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| News in Brief | Industry Viewpoint | ||||||
| ATSP TeleHealth 2003 - Call for Speakers The Association of TeleHealth Service Providers (ATSP) is holding its seventh annual conference, TeleHealth 2003, from 16-18 September, 2003. The ATSP has announced an open call for speakers and is also seeking nominations for the third annual TeleHealth Awards. The theme of this year’s conference is “We Want our ROI and We Want it Now: Re-examining the Role of Telecommunications in Healthcare.” TeleHealth 2003 will be held in an audio teleconference format. More details can be found at www.teleHealthconference .org. And Finally  Technip-Coflexip, one of the top five companies in the field of oil and petrochemical engineering, construction and services, has announced that it is installing the latest in telemedicine systems, the VitaLink 1200 manufactured by TeleMedic Systems, into the hyperbaric dive chamber complex of one of its diving support vessels, the CSO Alliance. The system, which is designed to be used by non-medically trained personnel, enables a member of the dive crew within the dive system chamber to electronically measure the vital signs of a fellow diver in need of medical attention. Connected to a satellite phone, the system then links real time into medical experts onshore who are able to provide assistance with treating the patient. This is the first time that a system of this type has been used in the hyperbaric chamber of a diving vessel anywhere in the world. For further information, email pip.bull@ telemedicsystems.com.  |
 Dr Pradeep Ramayya, Managing Director of AxSys Technology, comments on the eHealth market in Scotland How and why has eHealth taken off in Scotland? The Scottish Executive set up a group called the Scottish Telemedicine Action Forum (STAF) with a clear remit to fund clinical applications, not merely technology and infrastructure that would serve as demonstrators for eHealth in Scotland. AxSys Technology competed and won a number of these contracts, including an eHealth system to support the Managed Clinical Network for Cleft Lip and Palate (CLEFTSiS) across Scotland and a telephone based interactive voice response (IVR) system to support patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis at home. How can the UK and other countries learn from the Scottish experience? By focussing on clinical applications and not just technology and infrastructure. Also to take a wider view on eHealth. Conventionally, telemedicine has been seen as a point-to-point technology with the focus on diagnosis by an expert. Modern eHealth should support the on-going management of patients in a multi-disciplinary collaborative environment from initial referral, through specialised hospital care to care at home. The Clinical Networks that are being established to support cancer, diabetes, cardiac disease, Cleft-Lip and Palate services are examples of this collaborative, multi-disciplinary effort. Ehealth can support these activities as we have demonstrated in Scotland. Telemedicine is not simply about video-conferencing or store-and-forward technology but about integrating and streamlining healthcare delivery using a range of information and communication technologies (ICT) underpinned by the patient's clinical record. How has AxSys gone about approaching the topic of eHealth? From the start AxSys took a wider view on telemedicine and successfully integrated modern ICT including video conferencing and Store-and-Forward technology with a functionally rich patient-centric clinical record. We invested huge effort in ensuring that our solution was highly configurable to support a wide range of clinical activities. That is why our systems have been readily accepted by the clinical community and are successfully supporting changes to healthcare delivery in the NHS. What do countries need to do in order to successfully implement eHealth in their health services? They need to have a clear vision and focus on clinical application and need, not just on technology. What should practitioners do to encourage the use of eHealth? Practioners need to understand the benefits of collaborative multi-disciplinary working. We now have working examples of eHealth delivering real change in practice. Practitioners need to be ready to embrace change for the benefit of their patients and to open their eyes to the possibilities offered by eHealth. Founded in 1997, AxSys Technology develops, distributes and provides lifetime support to its eHealth and telemedicine systems and services worldwide. For more information, visit www.axsys.co.uk |
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The UKeHA has established a Home Healthcare Special Interest Group, to identify healthcare challenges facing the NHS and to promote the benefits of Home Healthcare solutions for Health & Social care. 
Dr Pradeep Ramayya, Managing Director of AxSys Technology, comments on the eHealth market in Scotland.