September 2001
INTRODUCTION
We are moving towards two important events in the rapidly evolving story of Telemedicine, eHealth and the UK eHealth Association. The first is our second Annual General Meeting, which will take place on 7 November at the bi-monthly event, being hosted by Motion Media Technology and Avon Health Authority. The second is the UKTA's first Annual Conference to be held conjointly with the National Assembly for Wales from 11 - 13 June 2002 at Cardiff City Hall. These two events mark milestones in the history of your Association and I am very pleased that we have made such progress in terms of attracting the attention of decision makers in the national healthcare sector over the last few months culminating in an invitation to address the Health Select Committee of the House of Commons at the end of April.
In recent months your Board of Trustees have been considering how best to deal with the move away from the use of the word "telemedicine" into the arena of eHealth, which embraces not just the clinical applications (previously known as Telemedicine), but also healthcare professional education, public health information and education and longitudinal healthcare event recording, which can provide a useful tool for determining ePrevention strategies on discreet populations or on a national, regional and even on a global basis.
We have sounded out the views of many of you and have reached the conclusion that we should change our name from the UK eHealth Association to the UK eHealth Association. Luckily the domain name was available and has been registered already. I propose that we put this name change to an informal vote at the AGM, such that the decision can then be adopted in all of the material of your association thereafter.
I personally would advocate that we support this change as it fits in well with what is happening in the rest of the world and would place us firmly in the pole position as the national resource of expertise and leadership in the fields of eHealthcare reform in this country. Perhaps equally importantly, it would open our membership category more widely to include those stake holders involved in medical and nursing education, as well as media interests for promoting health messages to the general public as well as those players involved in longitudinal use of electronic patient records and the like, some of whom are already members of our association.
You may well have strong views for or against this move and if you have, I would be delighted to field your questions and comments, which I will reply to in advance of the AGM on 7th November. I hope to welcome new members at the AGM and also to catch up with old friends and colleagues and I thank you for your contributions both individual and corporate, which have led to the continuing growth of our association.
Dr Ricky J Richardson FRCP FRCPCH
Chairman
NEW MEMBERS
Liverpool Health Economy
Joanne Dewar
Powys Health Authority
MEMBERS NEWS
The Agilent CareVue Clinical Information System has been introduced into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital. The system gives a complete picture of the baby’s medical state and history, including a record of all drug administrations. Information is automatically gathered from bedside patient monitors, ventilators, incubators and all fluid devices, including syringe and infusion pumps. The technology will be moved into intensive care, high dependency and cardiac care units at the hospital later this year. James_Harrison@hsgmed.com
Newchurch Ltd has a portfolio of solutions designed to support Primary Care Trusts. Frames is designed to support Primary Care Organisations’ business functions and to help them achieve their statutory responsibilities. The Common Care Record (CCR) is the key element of in the information infrastructure of the local health economy. It provides secure and rapid movement, amalgamation and analysis of care data for the benefit of patients, clinicians and managers, meeting the requirements of the electronic health care record For further information contact Kingsley Manning 020 8783 3300 email: kingsley.manning@newchurch.co.uk
Remote healthcare workers in Worcester will soon experience the benefits of the latest mobile technology first hand when they pilot GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) enabled laptops. This will provide remote, ‘always-on’ access to e-mail, Intranet and specialist healthcare applications, such as iSOFT’s PiMS (Patient Information Management System). BT Health is at the forefront of this work. In March it set up the BT Health Mobile Health Forum, which brings together the major IT suppliers and provides a one-stop shop for NHS organisations seeking the latest mobile technological solutions. For further information contact Sue Davis – Programme Director BT Health Mobile Forum 07860 810277
VitalLink 1200, the portable vital signs monitor from TeleMedic Systems, is now available with the leading pre-hospital clinical information software from HAS Solutions. The HAS Solutions software incorporates a full Electronic Patient Record Function (ePRF) allowing the rescuer to input patient details, but also allows the input of Situation Reports, Triage Data and provides Clinical Decision Support Software. The VitalLink 1200 with the addition of HAS Soloutions software can be conformed to certain industry specific situations. Ambulance Services may require the full range of input screens, detailing times, demographic and clinical data, whereas the use on oil platforms may require simply industry agreed protocols for clinical decision support software www.telemedicsystems.com
UK NEWS
Rapid on-line referrals that aim to reduce the waiting time for patients with suspected cancer have started at four health communities taking part in six-month pilot trials. During the trials referrals from the patient’s GP will be sent electronically to the hospital central booking point. The aim is to simplify the referral process and reduce the time between the patient attending the GP surgery and receiving a first hospital appointment www.nhsia.nhs.uk/def/pages/pr/04092001.asp
NHS staff now have access to Zetoc, the table of contents of over 20,000 scientific journals. The service is available through the National Electronic Library for Health (NeLH) site. Zetoc can be used from home or indeed anywhere with an NHSnet or Internet connection. Access outside of NHSnet is managed by the Athens authentication system and NHS staff may register for a username and password through the NeLH www.nelh.nhs.uk
Over the past few months Cisco Systems, the NHS Information Authority and the NHS Information Policy Unit have been working together to assess how an E-Business Compliant Network (ECN) will assist in achieving the IT development goals of the NHS. The ECN study was conducted over a period of eight weeks, and included over 40 in depth interviews with NHS executives, managers and technical staff. It is expected that the findings will provide a strong insight into the importance of IT infrastructure to support the objectives of the Modern NHS. www.nhsia.nhs.uk
Living Health, the new interactive broadband service from Telewest and the NHS has announced its first set of customer statistics since it was launched in June. Building on NHS Direct, living Health is most popular ‘out of surgery hours’. In the first four weeks of the healthcare pilot, Living Health attracted over 0.5m page impressions. This would equate to 4.2m page impressions if the service was rolled out to all Telewest customers across the country and would surpass the number of impressions currently generated by the most popular interactive servcies, such as news and sport. Source: bjhc&im September 2001
The Department of Health and NHS Purchasing and Supplies Agency (PASA) have completed negotiations of a critical national software licensing to provide the latest desktop personal productivity and back office applications to 300,000 NHS users.. http://www.medexonline.com/news/item.cfm?ID=1119&source=Medexonline
The UK Prescription Pricing Authority, the body responsible for pricing NHS prescriptions in England, is updating its confidential database, the Drugs Masterfile, to prepare for electronic prescribing. The Department of Health is keen to roll out electronic prescribing by 2004 and is already testing three pilots. Source: Scrip, 5 September 2001
Local Implementation Strategy (LIS) Groups across England and Wales have been informed how much they have been allocated to buy additional hardware to achieve the key connectivity targets. http://www.medexonline.com/news/item.cfm?ID=1122&source=medexonline
A new study has shown that patients who used a computer programme to support a decision about their health care emerged with a better perception of their own ability to make the decision and higher satisfaction with their decision than a control group given standard clinical care. British Medical Journal
Leeds Nuffield Hospital has placed the first UK order for a voice-activated operating suite which enables surgeons to carry out a wide range of operating theatre activities while performing minimally invasive surgery. Source: Medoxonline 28 August 2001
OVERSEAS NEWS
In the context of the EHTEL strategy to prepare a European Directory of eHealth Solutions to be implemented by the EHTEL T2 Working Group and as part of the ProEHTEL project, Silicon Bridge Research were asked to undertake a pilot based on putting their existing UK Healthcare Software Directory on to a Website. The first stage of this pilot is now complete and the UK Directory is now available to everyone. To access the pilot UK Directory click on "Pilot Directory". Within the website you will find a series of questions and links to enable you to direct your feedback or comments to EHTEL or to Silicon Bridge.
NASA and the University of Mississippi Medical Centre have joined together to work on performing surgical procedures in space for future long-term space ventures. In a test project to prepare for future medical attention in space, NASA is providing telecommunications and medical imaging linkups. http://www.federaltelemedicine.com/n090401.htm
The International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology has launched SICOT World, a new international internet communication and education initiative. SICOT World will provide each SICOT member with an individualised internet portal for accessing all SICOT information and services at any time, in any place. The portal will also provide access to SICOT's e-Education and e-Training programs. www.sicot.org/
Facts & Comparisons, a US-provider of pharmacy drug information has launched a handheld version of its online drug information system. The ClickFacts Knowledge Burst System(TM) links any drug or herbal word in a website directly to comprehensive prescribing information and details from Facts & Comparisons' A-Z Drug Facts and The Review of Natural Products. http://www.factsandcomparisons.com/question.asp`Source: Pharmexonline, 5 September, 2001
The Health Access and Alert Network of Texas (HAANet) a statewide secure network sponsored by the Texas Rural Hospital Telecommunications Alliance (TRHTA) and the Texas Association of Local Health Officials (TALHO) is working to broaden the network's outreach to rural home healthcare agencies. http://www.cyber-care.net
Surgeons at the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) in south western Ontario are now using a telementoring video system during actual surgical procedures. Off site physicians are assisting surgeons in an operating room a distance away. Surgeries including a plural biopsy, 2 cardiac bypass procedures, a cardiac valve procedure, and an appendectomy have been done.http://www.federaltelemedicine.com/n090401.htm
A new consumer health care Web site, has launched the eConsult Live24 service, a 24-hour video conferencing telemedicine centre which offers consumers the ability to have real time consultations with their physicians via the Internet, anytime and anywhere. The eConsult Live24 telemedicine service also makes it possible for consumers in California and Nevada to consult with one of eCureMe's multi-specialised, board-certified, health care professionals in real time via the Internet, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Source: VMW September 2001
A new alliance in US electronic prescribing will deliver real-time access to medication data to physicians at the point of care. http://www.pharmexonline.com/news/item.cfm?ID=1124&source=Medexonline
Physicians and patients in the European Union, the United States of America, Australia, and Israel will now be able to benefit from a new medical technology which allows doctors to visualise the entire length of the small intestine using a minute camera contained in an easily-swallowed capsule. The diagnostic system, has been granted the CE Mark. In addition, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the marketing of the camera-capsule in the U.S. for use in diagnosing disorders in the small intestine. Source: VMW September 2001
Surgeons in America have used a robot to remove the gall bladder of a woman in France in the world’s first long distance operation. The team of doctors based in New York, used video technology and a high speed transatlantic cable to control scalpel welding robotic arms in a hospital in Strasburg, more than 4,000 miles away. Source: Daily Telegraph 20 September 2001.
PUBLICATIONS
Telemedicine in developing countries Steven M Edworthy BMJ 2001;323 524-525 http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/323/7312/524
Recent advances: Telemedicine Richard Wootton BMJ 2001;323 557-560 http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/323/7312/557
USEFUL WEBSITES
GPs can now refer patients seeking advice on coronary heart disease (CHD) to a new national website - Hearts for Life. It is intended to provide a ´definitive´ source of public heart health information, based on the CHD National Service Framework (NSF) www.heartsforlife.co.uk
The General Medical Council, the UK medical profession's registration and licensing body, this week launched a new online search facility to enable patients to check a doctor's credentials. http://www.medexonline.com/news/item.cfm?ID=1094&source=medexonline
The Awareness Exchange Website for internet safety awareness has been launched by the European Commission to empower users to respond to illegal content on the website. www.saferinternet.org/
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
*Denotes the first appearance of the date of conferences and meetings
2001 UK Conferences
2002 UK Conferences
2001 Overseas Conferences
2002 Overseas Conferences
CIRCULATIONS THIS MONTH
Developing the Information Society: The Impacts on Regional & Spatial Planning. Emerging Lessons and Issues for Policy makers and Planners 25-26 October, Lille, France mis@cr-npdc.fr
Subscibe to the new, free monthly email newsletter Future Health Bulletin http://www.headstar.com/futureHealth
AND FINALLY…….
Please forward this e-mail to other colleagues who may find
it of interest.
Monica Dennis
Administrator
UK eHealth Association
Britannia House, 11 High Street, Cowbridge
Vale of Glamorgan CF71 7AD
Tel and fax: 01446 775189
Mobile: 07811 159800
Email: monica@denwales.freeserve.co.uk