November 2001
INTRODUCTION
I am pleased to announce that at the AGM held on 7th November, members of your Association voted by a large majority to change our name to the UK eHealth Association. As you know I wrote to you about this issue in the September issue of the Newsletter and I received a number of opinions – some for and some against! In the end the matter was put to the vote and the result is that we are now to be known as the UK eHealth Association and have a new domain name for our website www.ukeha.org.uk
We are busy finalising the programme details for the UKeHA Conference
to be
held in June next year and by the response so far for exhibition space, the
meeting should go well. Certainly we have an impressive list of confirmed
speakers with a pleasing spread from senior NHS representatives which is yet
another indication of the growing interest in Telemedicine and eHealth from
the UK Government.
I am particularly pleased to be able to announce the formation of a Scientific Advisory Board on which a significant number of very senior and well known colleagues from around the world have kindly agreed to serve. This Board is further recognition that the UKeHealth Association is gaining profile as the national representative organisation and resource on eHealth and Telemedicine.
As you will have seen from other notifications, an excellent programme is developing over the next year with our members bi-monthly meetings being hosted by both corporate members and NHS members in turn. We have had a flurry of NHS organisations joining the Association which is yet another indication of the growing interest in eHealth from the Department of Health.
We have an exciting year ahead of us and I look forward to catching up with as many of you as can come to the meetings and to welcoming new members as we move forward.
Ricky Richardson
Chairman
The first approved eHealth and telemedicine demonstration sites have been set up in the UK by the European Health Telematics Association (EHTEL), an EC funded body. Motion Media, a founding member of the UK eHealth Association, and Nestor Healthcare Group plc have been chosen by EHTEL to provide the demonstration centres for eHealth and telemedicine developments at their headquarters in Aust, near Bristol, and Hatfield respectively. Both will enable healthcare professionals to preview the latest solutions on the market. The UK sites will be joined by two more demonstration centres in continental Europe, yet to be confirmed. Patrick Hudgell, Marketing Director, Motion Media Technology, tel: 01454 635500
The CareStation 125, the first analogue-based videophone launched recently by Motion Media to serve the homecare market, could soon be helping patients suffering from diabetes, HIV/AIDS, or tuberculosis to manage their conditions more effectively. This is the result of a new partnership that has been announced between Motion Media and Informed Care, Inc. to enhance the delivery of disease management services for patients suffering from chronic illnesses. Initially, Informed Care will deploy 1000 CareStation units to help qualified nurse case managers and their physicians keep in touch with patients. Chris Lawrance or Alun Hunt, JBP Public Relations, (0117) 9073400
Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust has gone live with one of the largest enterprise-wide EPR implementations in the UK. In the first phase of the rollout, some four million patient episodes have been migrated into the system, which will ultimately benefit 4,000 trust clinical and administrative staff. The next phase of the implementation will include order communications plus results and reporting.
An NHS specific shopping catalogue listing details of IT and telecommunications products and services for the NHS was launched recently by the NHS Purchasing & Supplies Agency. NHSScat-IT is available only to people who have access to NHSnet nww.pasa.nhs.uk/nhscat-it
Easier access to information about NHS Net and guidance on how to get the best out of the network to support patient care and service delivery is available on the NHS website. The site also includes information about the future of NHS networking www.nhsia.nhs.uk/nhsnet
The NHS University, the largest in the world for training and educating healthcare personnel was launched by Tony Blair on 16 October. It will be both a physical and a virtual institution. Courses and training are offered for the full diversity of NHS staff - e.g. nurses, doctors, therapists, cleaners. The prospectus is available online at www.doh.gov.uk/nhsuniversity
The NHSIA has released the latest figures on levels of connection to NHSnet indicating that the national target to ensure 95% of GP practices have e-mail systems in place by March 2001 has already been achieved. www.gpnet.nhsia.nhs.uk/press/progress.asp
NHS 24, the Scottish equivalent of NHS Direct, expects that around 5 per cent of its estimated 2.5 million calls per year will result in patients being referred to see a community pharmacist. The figure is based on experience with NHS Direct in England. Nurse advisers at NHS 24 will have the option to refer callers to pharmacists. Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal, 4 November 2001
ViaCode certificates, a form of electronic passport that applies encryption to messages, are to be used in a year long pilot of emailing GP prescriptions directly to independent pharmacies. Doctors in Stockport and London will be using the certification facility to digitally sign and encrypt their prescriptions. BJHC&IM November 2001
The first dedicated channel for continuing professional development (CPD) for dentists has been launched. The internet channel, called keep-up-to-date-tv, delivers interactive, full screen programmes of television quality to the user’s PC, on demand. The channel has been set up to help dentists to comply with the General Dental Council’s life-long learning objectives. An individual development record is created for each subscriber to automatically record every programme worked through, allowing proof of their CPD to be provided. CPD becomes mandatory for dentists in January 2002. Source: BJHC&IM November 2001
Birmingham City Hospital NHS Trust has become the first trust in England to deploy a fully web-based, end-to-end, enterprise-wide clinical system to every desktop in the hospital. The system is available to doctors and nurses working in all departments at the hospital, including 40 wards, Accident and Emergency and Outpatients. Source: Medoxonline October 2001
The Department of Health New & Emerging Applications of Technology (NEAT) 3rd call for proposals. NEAT invites outline proposals for strategic applied research which utilises recent advances in fundamental knowledge and technology to develop products and interventions for improved health and social care or for disease prevention and treatment. Applications must show innovation and must have relevance, impact and potential to contribute to future health gain for patients and the general population. Projects meeting National Priorities are particularly welcome. This programme is open to all research providers in the academic and NHS communities. Closing date for applications is 14th December 2001. http://www.doh.gov.uk/research/rd3/nhsrandd/neatthirdcall.htm
The Rainbow Seed Fund has been announced by the Department of Trade and Industry. £4 million will be made available to back technology based opportunities in a range of areas including healthcare and biotechnology. The fund will be used to develop innovative ideas from a broad science and technology base and to develop an entrepreneurial culture in the public sector partners involved in the project and to enable exploitation and development of new products. Source: Medexonline, 19 October 2001
Staff at South Humberside Health Authority now have access to a Language Line, a 24 hour telephone interpreting service, when they need to communicate with patients who cannot speak or understand English. All Language Line interpreters receive ongoing compulsory training and are specialists in UK public sector terminology. Source: BJHC&IM November 2001
Researchers at Loughborough University have developed an electronic system that allows signals from medical monitoring equipment to be transmitted across a mobile phone network. The technology enables doctors to monitor patients in remote locations using a mobile phone. The system can be used for anything that can be monitored electronically, such as heart rate, blood pressure, or temperature. The system works by having heart function electrodes from the patient's chest fed into an electronic circuit placed on a holster on a belt that the patient wears. The holster also has a standard mobile phone. A cardiologist can see a signal exactly as if it comes directly off the patient's chest. Signals have been reproduced accurately, and the only limitations seem to be those inherent in the mobile phone network. BBC News 12 October 2001
New technology will be needed to support the government's drive to improve accident and emergency services. The £100m strategy aims to reduce waiting in A&E departments and end inappropriate waits on trolleys altogether over the next three years. One of the key elements of the new strategy involves round the clock, seven day a week diagnostic and other services to cut delays. Source: Medexonline, 24 October 2001
The first black boxes were used to explain aircraft accidents – now they may be put into hospital operating theatres. A clinical data recorder being developed which will record video, audio, physiological and technical data during surgery. It could help to explain the high number of medical accidents suffered by patients. The device was developed at Imperial College, London. Source: Sunday Times 28 October 2001
The Department of Commerce's National Tele-communications and Information Administration (NTIA) has awarded $42.8 million in Technology Opportunities Program The grants are matched by $46.7 million in contributions from the private sector, state and local organisations. The grant winners provide services in tele-medicine, public safety, distance learning and community information. http://www.federaltelemedicine.com/n102201.htm
The United States National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded more than $20 million to a consortium of universities to build the first nationwide high-performance computer environment to study diseases of the brain. Researchers will be linked over a high-speed network and will share high-resolution animal and human brain images to allow analysis and comparison at many different scales. These capabilities will be the means for cross-institutional integration of data and expertise that can advance research on such brain-related diseases as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, and multiple sclerosis VMW November 2001
The Veterans Administration researchers in Pittsburgh and Atlanta are evaluating a high tech walking frame designed to promote mobility and independence for the visually impaired elderly. The equipment uses robotics and artificial intelligence to sense the environment and support and guide the user. The equipment uses laser range finders, sonar sensors, steering motors and a motion controller. Federal Telemedicine News 7 Nov 2001
The Canadian Government are contributing $4,5 million to two teleHealth initiatives in Eastern Ontario. The funds include $1,5 million for Regionally Accessible Secure Cardiac Health Records, a project led by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI), and $3 million for Eastern Ontario TeleHealth Network, a project led by the Pembroke General Hospital. VMW November 2001
A new survey of US physicians argues that e-health is beginning to deliver tangible benefits and change the way clinicians work, leading to the conclusion that the first generation of e-health practitioners has already emerged. http://www.pharmexonline.com/news/item.cfm?ID=1225&source=MEDEXONLINE
The US Army has awarded a research and development grant from the Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research (DoD SBIR) programme to Immersion Medical. The U.S. Army plans to use the companies simulation technology for the development of trauma related military medical training systems. The DoD SBIR programme is one of the largest sources of technology funding available in the United States, awarding more than $550 million annually to hi-tech companies. VMW November 2001
A new medical smart home has been created and equipped by the University of Rochester engineers, scientists, and physicians. Creation of the smart home is the latest accomplishment of the University of Rochester Center for Future Health founded 2 years ago. The Center was formed to help people maintain their health in their own homes. A sophisticated computer system helps patients keep track of items like their glasses or their keys, and the kitchen is equipped with a new kind of packaging to signal the presence of dangerous bacteria in food. Spaces between ordinary walls are stuffed with gadgetry, including banks of powerful computers. The apartment lets people have the power and the technology to keep healthy longer. http://www.federaltelemedicine.com/n102201.htm
Anyone who has completed a course on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is familiar with the mannequin that is used as a teaching device for trainees to learn how to resuscitate a heart attack victim by compressing the chest and breathing into the airway of the simulated patient. Military surgeons at Ben Taub General Hospital, Houston, Texas, are using a new generation of "smart" mannequins as simulated accident and injury victims to teach and evaluate the performance of trauma teams. VMW November 2001
The draft Strategic Outline Case for the NHS-wide Clearing Service can be accessed from www.doh.gov.uk/nhsexipu/whatnew/index.htm
A pocket-sized booklet giving facts and figures about medical technologies in Europe and their importance to society has been published by Eucomed, the European industry body. Copies can be requested from mailto:nadege@eucomed.be
The National Electronic Library for Health has opened a new ‘virtual branch library’ aimed at professionals working in child health http://www.nelh.shef.ac.uk/childhealth
The Cochrane Library of reviews of information on evidence-based medicine is now available online to students in further and higher medical education thanks to a partnership between the NHS National Electronic Library for Health and the academic information systems body JISC http://www.cochranelibrary.com
GPnotebook is a system designed to provide a concise synopsis of the entire field of clinical medicine with material organised systematically to ensure rapid retrieval of information. The content of GPnotebook is based on clinical practice in the United Kingdom and provides a clinical reference guide for general practitioners and medical students. It may also be a useful reference resource for other health professionals. As well as being a clinical reference guide, GPnotebook also aims to be a tool for clinical education,clinical governance and continuing professional development. http://www.gpnotebook.co.uk/
Nurse PREP material is available on the Just for Nurses website. Nurses who register on the site can use the material interactively by reading articles and answering questions on them. They receive an immediate score and can fill in a profile online to add to their personal professional portfolio www.justfornurses.co.uk
International Medical Informatics Association - Nursing Informatics special interest group (IMIA-NI). It is a non profit organisation, originally established by IMIA in 1983 as Working Group 8 of IMIA, dedicated to serving the specific needs of nurses in the field on nursing informatics http://www.infocom.cqu.edu.au/imia-ni/
*Denotes the first appearance of the date of conferences and meetings
2001 UK Conferences
2002 UK Conferences
2001 Overseas Conferences
2002 Overseas Conferences
IT and the NHS Plan "Harnessing the benefits of the IT
revolution" Tuesday 20 November 2001. Forte Posthouse Regents Park, London
http://www.healthcare-info.co.uk/lh1131/?source=lh31tmxdw
UK health sector organisations are invited to an information day on 27 November 2001 in London designed to help them secure funding for IT projects from the European Union's Information Society Technologies (IST) multi-million Euro programmes. For further details e-mail mailto:f5infoday@glasgows.co.uk quoting "Eighth Call Information Day" as the reference or visit http://www.ukishelp.co.uk
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: mdennis@ukeha.org.uk
www.ukeha.org.uk