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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 | |||||
| Chairman’s Circle Meeting The UKeHA Chairman’s Circle is meeting on 8 June at BT’s offices in Brindley Place, Birmingham. UKeHA Board Meeting The Board of the UK eHealth Association will be meeting on 15 June at Lovell’s in London. Events: 15 – 16 June 2004 BCS Primary Health Care Specialist Group Spring Conference 2004. For further information, visit www.phcsg.org. 21 June 2004 Telemedicine & Telecare in the NHS – Making care local. For further information visit www.rsm.ac.uk/academ/ fmttelem.htm 29 – 30 November 2004 Telemed & eHealth 2004 – Citizen centred care: A meeting in association with The eHealth Alliance UK. For further information, visit www.rsm.ac.uk/academ/ fmttelem.htm.   |
Chinese ‘take away’ ideas on UK eHealth Practice
 Professor Ricky Richardson, Chair of the UK e-Health Association, Professor Richard Kitney, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Imperial College London and Richard Granger, Director General of NHS IT, completed an intensive yet successful three day visit to China at the end of March. The official visit was funded and sponsored by the DTI and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. They met with national and regional Government and health officials to discuss the approach taken by the National Programme for IT in the NHS and the impact this would have on the delivery of e-health applications and services. The UK has been developing an active and working relationship with the Chinese Government on information and communications technology issues. The main aim of this visit was to develop a dialogue with the Chinese government and industry on e-health as one element of this ongoing e-policy dialogue. The range of meetings and local visits promoted the sharing of good practice, provided a rare insight into healthcare policy in China and informed their leaders about the reforms for the NHS and the potential of e-health to support improvement and capacity for healthcare. There will be significant opportunities for suppliers to the NHS and to NPfIT to consider business potential in China. For further information, visit Department of Health at http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/07/90/12/04079012.PDFProfessor Richard Kitney OBE joins UKeHA The UK eHealth Association is delighted to announce that Professor Richard Kitney OBE, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Imperial College London, has joined the Board. An interview is to follow in the next edition of eHealthcheck. UKeHA Strategic Review A strategic review has been carried out by the UK eHealth Association. A full report on the review will be included in eHealthcheck’s next issue. |
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| News in Brief | Members News | |||||
New Appointments at NHSIA
The NHS Appointments Commission has appointed two new non-executive directors to the Board of the NHS Information Authority. Sue Blanks, a member of the National Council for the British Association of Day Surgery, and Chris Hughes, Chair of the Hearing Aid Council, took up their appointments in April. Each appointment will run for five years. They replace Dr Lawrence Ijebor and Rosemary Horwood who have now served the maximum period of time as non-executive directors with the NHSIA. For further information, email Gill Friend at gill.friend@nhsia.nhs.uk or visit NHSIA at www.nhsia.nhs.uk. Award Winning Diabetes Contact Centre Developed BT, in partnership with Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust and Salford Primary Care Trust, has been celebrating coming joint second place for “Best Use of IT in Primary and Community Care”at the Healthcare IT Effectiveness Awards 2004. The accolade was awarded to the team for their work to develop, install and evaluate an information and communications technology contact centre solution to enable call operators and telecarers to carry out a study amongst Type 2 Diabetes patients with the aim of facilitating better disease self-management between patient and the Diabetes nurse. The PACCTS (Pro-Active Contact Centre For Treatment Support) study provided an information and communication technology platform to investigate whether proactive contact centre-based communication between healthcare professionals and patients with Type 2 Diabetes can enable better self-management and control of glucose. The study, involving 600 patients, achieved a reduction of HbA1c of 0.4% across moderate and poor control Type 2 Diabetics and resulted in patients feeling more in control of their diabetes as a result of PACCTS. Award Win for United Telemedicine  United Telemedicine Ltd also received a prestigious accolade at the same awards ceremony following its work with the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC), Nottingham, and surrounding Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), to ensure successful implementation of Telemarque, a clinical support and telemedicine solution to assist a very successful district-wide dermatology service. The project involved close co-operation between the dermatology department at QMC and the PCTs to establish nurse-led clinics, along with a GPwSI (GP with Special Interest) service. The use of Telemarque facilitated two-way communication of digital images and clinical data between the community based services and the specialist unit at QMC, contributing to a significant reduction in referrals to secondary care, reduced patient waiting times, and high levels of satisfaction from both patients and their GPs. For further information, contact Richard Shaw at dick.shaw@telemarque. co.uk or visit http://www.telemarque. co.uk 
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London GP Trials Doc@Home®
 In an attempt to empower his asthma and diabetic patients, and promote self-management, a South London GP has been trialling a remote health management solution called Doc@HOME®. Dr Harrar, from Sandmere Practice in Lambeth, cares for a wide variety of patients from different socio, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. He chose to include a group of 70 patients in the recent evaluation – thirty-five suffering from diabetes and the other thirty-five asthmatics. Doc@HOME® units have been given to the patients for use at home.They input their own data in an attempt to identify trends and enable analysis of the impact of their medication. For example, the asthma patients – some of whom are smokers – are required to input information such as peak flow, but also how many cigarettes they smoke and when they smoke them. A key benefit to using Doc@HOME® is the amount of time it can save, particularly on the most routine and administrative tasks of continuous data collection. If data is collected by the patient at home, clinic time in the surgery can be dramatically reduced and the GP can spend more time with the patient discussing how to manage the condition. For further information, contact Adrian Flowerday at Docobo on 01372 363 747 or visit www.docobo.co.uk.Audit Commission Report takes Care of the Elderly  Tunstall, the leading provider of personal and home reassurance systems, has welcomed the findings of reports published by the Audit Commission and Better Government for Older People (BGOP).The reports highlight the key role that assistive technology can play in helping older people retain their independence and well-being. “Older People – Independence and Well-being”, an overview of the five reports, found that for many older people, the priority is to live a full and independent life. It calls for a radical change of perspective on public services to help them meet the challenges of an ageing society. The reports underline the key role that teleHealth and telecare technology will play in future provision of care services. They also addressed a number of key issues facing health and care services, including monitoring of serious conditions such as diabetes, congestive heart failure and the lung condition COPD, as well as care-related issues such as home security and “virtual visiting”. A key finding of the reports was that hospital admissions for the over 70s could be cut by up to 15%, and the length of hospital stays by up to 60% through using assistive technology. Focusing solely on management of COPD, the report found that if 30% of UK cases could be managed at home this would release 217,000 NHS bed-days, saving over £50 million per year. For further information, contact Richard Smith at Tunstall on 01977 661 234 or email rj_smith@tunstall.co.uk.
Alternatively, visit www.tunstall.co.uk.Motion Media in Alliance with AxSys Technology  Ground breaking technology, which combines the latest in video telephony, the capability to gather vital signs data remotely and a direct link to an electronic patient record system, is set to revolutionise home health care. The integration of Motion Media’s CareStation® 156s and AxSys Technology’s Excelicare™ platform will allow primary and acute care providers to conduct virtual consultations with patients. This will also facilitate the monitoring of patients’ progress following discharge from hospital, freeing up hospital beds more quickly and allowing the patient to recuperate in the comfort of their own home whilst still under the care of a doctor. AxSys’ offering is based around a tool set that can be configured to deliver the ‘narrow and deep’ functionality required by clinicians while co-existing with other IT systems. The AxSys toolset of technologies and components is referred to generically as Excelicare. Excelicare also includes a telephone-based interactive patient self-monitoring system that is accessed by the patients from home using a touch-tone phone on a standard telephone line, the responses of which are stored within the system and can be reviewed by the clinician at any time.The new alliance will see the integration of this system with Motion Media’s CareStation 156s, a bespoke healthcare videophone that can be integrated with a wide range of medical monitoring devices, including weight scales, blood pressure monitors and glucometers.The results from these monitors can be fed back directly to the clinician, and be delivered direct to the Excelicare system.The videophone also provides the benefit of allowing face-to-face contact between patient and clinician. |
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| News in Brief | Healthcare News | |||||
| BMA Launch New Online Resource The British Medical Association (BMA) has launched a new online resource for those interested in medical education. The Medical Education A-Z is aimed at students considering careers in medicine, practising doctors, and professional organisations. It provides practical information about common terms used in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. Entries under A, for example, include 'Access to Medicine Courses' – which deals with courses run by medical schools to increase access to medical careers – and 'Appraisal' – which gives details of the appraisal schemes currently being rolled out for practising doctors. For further information, visit http://www.bma.org.uk/ ap.nsf/Content/ MedEdAtoZcontent Boost for Out of Hours Care Health Minister John Hutton has announced a new £30 million scheme that will reward Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) for providing high quality out of hours healthcare for patients. The extra cash will reward PCTs for their work in preparing for December 2004 when GPs are given the choice to hand over responsibility for out of hours care to their local PCT. The scheme will offer two payments. The first will be given to PCTs when they satisfy their Strategic Health Authority (SHA) that they are ready to take over responsibility for out of hours care in their area. The second payment is for PCTs that have taken over full responsibility for their local out of hours care and have demonstrated they are delivering a high quality service. It is anticipated that the scheme will offer up to £100,000 per PCT. Under the new scheme SHAs will be in charge of assessing whether a PCT has qualified for the payments. For further information, visit the Department of Health at www.dh.gov.uk. Sex Texts  Tower Hamlets PCT has set up a service aimed at young people, offering an innovative confidential mobile phone text messaging service on sexual health matters. The service has been highlighted by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) as an example of good practice. For further information, visit http://www.chi.nhs.uk/eng/news/2004/mar/ 03.shtml or the Health Informatics Community at http://www.informatics. nhs.uk/index.html. Events 23-25 June 2004 NHS Confederation Annual Conference & Exhibition, ICC & NEC, Birmingham. For further information visit www.nhsconfed.org/ annualconference 8-9 July 2004 National PCT Congress 2004 – Delivering Progress, Hilton London Metropole Hotel & Conference Centre. For further information email Ralph.collett@rbi.co.uk 30 September – 1 October 2004 Clinical Information Systems and Electronic Records 2004, London West Convention Centre. For further information visit www.healthcare-events.co.uk  |
New Appointments to NHS IT Programme will help deliver real change for patients
Health Minister John Hutton has announced that the leadership of the NHS IT Programme is being boosted by top level clinical experience through the appointment of Professor Aidan Halligan as joint Director General. Professor Halligan, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, will lead on work to engage doctors and other clinicians to ensure NHS IT is user friendly and supports the Government’s top priority of putting the interests of patients first.The effective engagement of clinicians and other NHS users of the system is key to the successful implementation of the National IT Programme. Professor Halligan will share the role of Director General and Senior Responsible Officer with Richard Granger. Granger will continue to be responsible for the successful implementation of the new IT systems across the NHS. This announcement reflects a maturation of the National Programme for IT as it is moved from mobilisation through procurement into implementation.In addition to Professor Halligan and Richard Granger’s roles the Department of Health’s Director of Delivery, John Bacon, has been appointed to chair the National IT Programme Board and will be responsible for ensuring that the IT Programme plays a full part in the wider NHS reforms and that NHS managers are on side and help to deliver the programme. All three directors will report to Sir Nigel Crisp, Chief Executive of the NHS. For further information, visit http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/07/71/55/04077155.pdf Health information at a click of a button Millions of patients are set to become health experts at the click of a button, as comprehensive health information from the British Medical Journal (BMJ) has been launched on NHS Direct Online.The Department of Health has been working with the BMJ to make available BMJ Best Treatments, which provides information on the most common health conditions, including explanations of the pros and cons of elective surgery procedures, details of other treatments available, and advice on pre-and post-operative care.It also offers information on the choice of possible treatments of 50 chronic conditions, ranking them according to effectiveness and highlighting the risks and benefits of each. Best Treatments will equip the public with evidence-based information on common surgical procedures, put into language and formats which are accessible, clear and jargon-free.To date this information has only been available to US patients.This new resource provides patients with the same evidence based information as their doctors, which will support them to make informed choices about their healthcare. For further information, visit the Health Informatics Community at http://www.informatics.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=616&d=11&h=24&f=46&dateformat= %25o%20%25B%20%25Y or http://www.besttreatments.co.uk/btuk/home.html Computerised X-Ray System For Hospital The Conquest Hospital in East Sussex is set to benefit from a new state-of-the-art computerised system, PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System), which enables all radiological images, such as x-rays and CT scans, to be viewed by doctors on computer screens throughout the hospital where patients are seen and treated. PACS has also been commissioned by Southern Derbyshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. The system will have a fully integrated RIS (Radiology Information System). This will allow doctors to report on images using speech recognition software as well as running a patient booking system. It replaces old methods of doctors viewing images on x-ray film and reading reports on paper. For further information, visit NHS Health Informatics Community at www.informatics.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=496 The Pressure Is On A computer test to measure nurses' ability to make difficult decisions and act on them under pressure has been designed by psychologists from Nottingham University and a private company Interactive Skills. The aim of the test is to get clues about whether a nurse can work effectively when faced with a potentially emotionally charged situation. It examines courage, nerve, initiative and resilience and features a number of scenarios that the person taking the test is asked to comment on. In one a nurse is reduced to tears by a demanding GP.The person taking the test is asked whether they would continue to talk to the GP, or whether they would try to avoid referring problems to that doctor in future. For further information, visit NHS Health Informatics Community at www.informatics.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=498 via www.bbc.co.uk/news |
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| News in Brief | Global News | |||||
| Robo–Nurse The University of South Alabama is exploring the use of robots to address the national nursing shortage. The robot is controlled by a health care provider with video cameras enabling interaction with the patient. The robot is capable of travelling down hallways and into rooms, pushing open doors and riding in elevators. Nurses would be able to check patients progress and call nursing assistants to change dressings and attend patients needs. The clinical trial is federally funded through a grant from the Office for the Advancement of TeleHealth, and patients have to give their consent to be involved in the experimentation. The goal is to find ways in which the remote presence technology can improve communication between patients and their caregivers, including medically underserved rural areas. Source: Mobile Register, via http://tie.telemed.org/ news/default.asp TeleHealth & Satellites Conference The European Association for the International Space Year (EURISY), in conjunction with Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), Centre Royal de Télédéction Spatiale (CRTS), United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, I-Space and the European Space Agency (ESA), are to hold the TeleHealth and Satellites Conference in Rabat, Morocco from 8 – 9 July 2004. The main purpose of the workshop will be to compare the different approaches adopted by the different space agencies and the respective national, international and non-governmental authorities and to initiate international co-operation in the field of teleHealth. Potential users of systems, such as decision-makers, medical doctors, surgeons, nurses, health officers, vets, entomologists, telecommunication operators and engineers are invited to participate in this workshop. The most recent approaches in the fields of tele-epidemiology, tele-consultation, tele-robotics and tele-surgery in remote areas will be presented and discussed. For further information, visit http://www.eurisy. asso.fr/. Key worldwide events include: 12-16 June 2004 All Africa Telemedicine and TeleHealth Conference: Envisioning Health Care and Technology Together, Yaounde, Cameroon. For further information, contact Raymond Micah at micah1731@rogers.com. 31 July – 5 August 2004 MEDICON 2004, Naples, Italy. For further information, visit www.medicon2004. unina.it. 30 September – 1 October 2004 26 – 29 October 2004
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 Global Health Academy LaunchedThe World Health Organisation (WHO), in collaboration with Cisco Systems Inc., The Geneva Foundation for Diseases of the Tropics, The Kuwait Fund, The International Telecommunication Union, and The Arab Fund, has launched a global health and technology network. The project, called “Health Academy”, is a novel approach to improve health through information technology. WHO’s vision for the Health Academy is one of a health information network based on proven technological expertise with the far-reaching goal of touching people where they may be. In an age where information travels at its fastest ever, but where many remain victims of ill-health and disease, spreading awareness and educating communities and individuals on life-sustaining approaches to health is of the utmost priority. Such a health information network can have far-reaching effects into the future by reorganising the very dynamic between health and the public through the effective use of such advanced technology. The pilot implementation is underway in Egypt and Jordan. For further information, visit http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/2003/pr92/en/ or contact Philip Stroot at strootp@who.int Facing up to the Future Patients about to undergo complex facial surgery could be shown a computer-generated image of how their face will look post-operation.The software, developed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, US, uses data from MRI scans to model layers of skin on the face. At the moment the computer is able to manipulate images of the various layers of skin and fat close to the surface, rather than the bone and muscle deeper down. By calculating the relative thickness of the skin layers and the fat beneath, the software gives a rendering of how it thinks the face will look afterwards. Once the structure of the face has been mapped, a series of equations is applied to every segment to work out its response to the stresses and strains of surgery. The MRI scan can reveal a great deal about the condition of skin layers beneath the surface, such as their stiffness, which could have a major impact on how they cope with being stretched and bunched. Further developments could include adding the different properties of ageing skin to the computer model, and trying to predict where skin could sag after an operation. Steve Pieper, a computer scientist at the hospital, who worked with a company called Digital Elite in Los Angeles, leads this project. Source: NHS Health Informatics Community http://www.informatics.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=497 via www.bbc.co.uk/news 
Crack-down on Internet Drugs TradeA new annual report by UN organisation, the International Narcotics Control Board, has urged Governments around the world to do more to crack down on the illegal trade in controlled drugs over the Internet. The report draws attention to a continued increase in cyber trafficking of pharmaceutical products containing internationally controlled substances. Internet pharmacies, which can operate from any part of the world, play a major role in the increasing illicit supply of pharmaceutical products containing narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Illegally operating Internet pharmacies do not require a doctor’s prescription or to offer on-line or telephone consultations. Citing uneven and lax implementation of laws governing the Internet, the Board urges Governments to take a more proactive stand.To support legal action Governments should ensure that illicit trafficking and the diversion of pharmaceutical products containing narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances via the Internet are established as criminal offences.The Board also points to the dangerously widespread perception that misuse and abuse of pharmaceutical products is not as harmful as the abuse of illicitly manufactured drugs.The Board therefore, notes with concern that the judiciary in many countries still does not attribute adequate severity to diversions and trafficking of legally manufactured controlled substances. For further information, visit www.incb.org World’s First Digital Heart Hospital to Open University Community Health (UCH) is developing a $40 million advanced hospital.The 120,000 square-foot hospital is scheduled to open in the spring of 2005 on the campus of University Community Hospital in Tampa, Florida.The facility, to be named the Pepin Heart Hospital and Research Institute, will be designed to be a virtually paperless, filmless, and wireless environment. At the core of the hospital will be GE’s Centricity Cardiology Information System and Centricity Clinical Information System, a complete and fully electronic patient record system that enables clinicians to focus on providing the highest quality, most informed care to their patients. Computerised Physician Order Entry will enable the electronic ordering of medications, so reducing the opportunity for medical errors. For further information, visit http://tie.telemed.org/news/default.asp |
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Chinese ‘take away’ ideas on UK eHealth Practice
Global Health Academy Launched
Crack-down on Internet Drugs Trade
London GP Trials Doc@Home®
