INTRODUCTION
The UK eHealth Association’s 1st annual conference and supporting exhibition is only a week away. This promises to be an exciting, informative and rewarding three days. The timing appears to be perfect with the promises of extra money for the NHS, the devolvement of budgets to the PCTs and the will of the PCTs to investigate innovative was of offering Health services closer to home.
The mix of attendees from speakers, delegates and exhibitors will create the ideal environment for constructive discussion on how eHealth can be taken forward to the benefit of all stakeholders. Let’s not miss this opportunity. In addition to the main conference com.Medica Limited will be hosting a debate on “eHealth technology - the implications” on the Wednesday evening. Please contact Dr Ravi Bickram 0207 960 6049 ravi.bickram@commedica.com if you would like to attend. All details of the conference including the latest programme can be found at our website www.ukeha.org.uk
We are still able to take delegate bookings either by faxing the brochure form or electronically via our website. There are also limited opportunities for exhibition space and sponsorship. If you wish to benefit from these please contact me directly to discuss the ideal package for your organisation.
I very much look forward to meeting as many of you as I can next week and very much hope that the conference marks the turning point from when eHealth becomes business as usual.
David Greenaway, Chief Executive, 0771 878 1191 david.greenaway1@btinternet.com
NEW MEMBERS
We would like to welcome the following new members to the Association
Oracle
Silicon Bridge Research Ltd
Sequence
Scottish Medicine
MEMBERS NEWS
Dataplus has won a three year contract to provide resource planning software to NHS Direct. The Contact Centre Coach software will be used in the 22 NHS Direct sites to plan staff schedules and help ensure that the service continues to cope with the increasing demands placed upon it. Source: bjhc&im April 2002.
SmartSensor telemed has won the Boots Award for Best Innovation in Integrated Medicine at the recent Medical Futures Awards 2002 in London. The smartcard invention could be used extensively by pharmacists for initial screening and ongoing evaluation of patients with chronic conditions. The smartcard contains electrochemical biosensors, linked to a detachable data module. The biosensors perform rapid medical diagnostic tests using a blood spot, urine or saliva applied to the card by an individual. Signals from the biosensor are stored in a microchip contained in the data module, which is then detached. Test results are generated in a database and stored in an electronic patient record which can be made available to the patient’s GP. For further information contact James Jackson jj@smartsensortelemed.com www.smartsensortelemed.com
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children has launched a new section of its website dedicated to it young patients. Gosh Kids and Gosh Teens includes information about the hospital, accounts of life on the wards by patients, an A to Z of diseases and an "Ask the Doc" e-mail facility. http://www.gosh.nhs.uk
UK NEWS
The Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (CHAI), a new independent watchdog, to be set up by 2004, will scrutinise NHS spending on technology to make sure it offers value for money.The body, will combine the current roles of the Commission of Health Improvement http://www.chi.nhs.uk and the Audit Commission http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk.
A new web based system to streamline ophthalmic payment claims is to be piloted. It will operate over the NHSnet and build on the existing system which uses older style computer technology. New features include a centralised database that has the ability to cross reference against patient administration details held by health authorities/primary care trusts. The database will be held by the Information Authority. Future enhancements could include linking eye test results electronically to a patients health record. david.warburton@nhsia.nhs.uk
The recently published Wanless Report believes that the 1.1 billion pounds the NHS currently spends on information technology needs to be doubled if government targets are to be met. The report found that current use of information and communication technology is extremely poor and improvements in the use of technology is a key issue to improve quality and productivity. http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/wanless
Key statistical reports on patient registrations, GP payments and screening programme activities are to be made available to the new Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) via a web based system currently under development. This will enable PCTs to produce quarterly statistics for the department of Health on each new PCT area. Nww.Exeter.nhsia.nhs.uk/products/product.asp
A computer simulation of the heart, developed at Leeds University is providing doctors and researchers with new information on the behaviour of the heart during the run up to a heart attack. The simulated heart allows the modelling of arrhythmias which researchers can then test pharmacological and physical treatments against. The virtual heart can also be placed inside a virtual torso to produce a simulated elechtrocardiogram. Source: bjhc&im May 2002
BMI British Midland has installed a new remote passenger health monitoring system on transatlantic flights from Manchester. In the event of an in-flight medical emergency, the BMI crew will connect the telemedicine system Tempus 2000 to the aircraft's satellite phones and transmit the passenger's vital signs as well as video images to a 24-hour ground-based medical support team based in the USA. The Tempus 2000 system is capable of handling almost any in-flight medical incident, such as a child with asthma, a woman with angina, or a businessman experiencing a panic attack. Source: e-Health Insider May 2002
A virtual system developed by the research team at King’s College, London allows neurologists to study individual bundles of nerve fibres in the brain, using software to adapt conventional MRI scanners. Traditional MRI scanners measure the resonance of water molecules in the brain. This virtual system adds in a software module that tracks and analyses the random oscillation of water molecules. As water molecules move more freely along a bundle of fibres than around it, a detailed three dimensional picture of the brain’s white matter network is built up. Source: bjhc&im May 2002.
OVERSEAS NEWS
US Congress has passed the "Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act" that will have an effect on telemedicine's role in the area of homeland security and public health. The legislation will help improve existing telemedicine programs and provide health care information and advice in any bioterrorism and public health emergency. http://www.federaltelemedicine.com/n052802.htm
The Indiana Heart Hospital is to be the first free-standing, all-digital cardiac care facility. The trend toward specialty facilities gives medicine a chance to incorporate the most modern information technologies into clinical care. Clinicians will have a single point of access to electronic patient records http://www.eHealthindiana.com/tihh_ge_one.asp
The Medical Missions for Children (MMC) are working with Polycom to provide video communications equipment, and technical support to help the MMC Global Telemedicine Learning Network expand. This telemedicine network helps children with serious medical problems in developing, remote, and underserved areas in the world. http://www.federaltelemedicine.com/n052802.htm
The Global TeleHealth Resource Center (GTRC), devoted to the delivery of healthcare to those in greatest need, has introduced the Global Medical Matrix. The Global Medical Matrix is a network of healthcare practitioners, disaster relief personnel, environmentalists, public health professionals, and a range of specialists with the skills needed to respond to the health needs of disaster victims. http://www.telemed.med.ecu.edu/
Canada's largest home teleHealth pilot has found that 95.5% of patients who received remote video conferencing homecare visits were satisfied with the home teleHealth experience. The goal of the pilot, which brought together We Care Home Health Services nurses and clients in Halifax, Nova Scotia and broadband applications technology from March Networks, was to gauge client and nurse satisfaction, access to care, equivalence in quality of care, and potential cost savings in supplementing conventional homecare with remote home teleHealth visits. Source: VMWMay 2002
A new application for 3D ultrasound makes it possible to feel the image of the unborn baby. A 3D-ultrasound scan is taken of the baby. These images are loaded into e-Touch software which then allows users to feel textures including the feel of the baby's face and skin by using a special computer mouse which registers the contact, and creates the sensation of touch, which is transmitted through the user's hand. http://www.federaltelemedicine.com/n052802.htm
PUBLICATIONSPaediatric Asthma, the UK’s first virtual journal has been launched. The virtual journal brings together material from the Archives of Diseases of Childhood, Pediatrics, Thorax and the BMJ. http://www.paediatric-asthma.org.uk
Building an Electronic Disease Register. Alan Gillies, Bev Ellis, Nick Lowe. Radcliffe Medical Press 2001. 144pp, £24.95, pb ISBN: 1857754239
USEFUL WEBSITESThe Office of the Information Commissioner has four online seminars to help individuals and organisations understand the Data Protection Act 1998. The seminars can be viewed at www.dataprotection.gov.uk/education.htm
Birth of a new online resource to support care for mothers and babies has been announced by the National Electronic Library for Health. Midwives and pregnant women can now view or download essential information produced by the MIDIRS Informed Choice initiative directly from the e-library at www.nelh.nhs.uk/maternity
A new online resource to answer healthcare professionals’ frequently asked questions about diabetes is now live on the National Electronic Library for Health. The new Diabetes Virtual Library (DVL) can be found at www.nelh.nhs.uk/diabetes
A new online resource to assist the new Primary Care Trusts in developing organisational and personal skills to deliver The Shifting Balance of Power modernisation agenda. A virtual forum for sharing of innovation and best practice can be found at www.natpact.nhs.uk
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY*Denotes the first appearance of the date of conferences and meetings
2002 UK Conferences
UKeHA Annual Conference: Delivering Care Earlier 11-13 June 2002, Cardiff City Hall, Wales, UK: monica@denwales.freeserve.co.uk
e-Health 2002. The International e-Health Associations 2nd Annual Conference, 18-20 September 2002 London. Ehealth2002@cs.com www.eHealth2002.org
Healthcare Meets Medical Informatics and Innovation: The Future is Here 20-22 October 2002. Edinburgh International Conference www.hemmii.com
Reshaping Clinical practices and Procedures with Information Flows: The Autumn Forum. 7 November 2002, The Royal College of Surgeons, London. www.bjhc.co.uk
2002 Overseas Conferences
ATA 7th Annual Meeting 2-5 June 2002 LA Convention Center, Los Angeles, California. www.atmeda.org/news/newres.htm
Telemedicine in Care Delivery: Technology and Application 13-15 June 2002 Pisa, Italy http://www.ticd.iss.it
*Emerging Technologies & Healthcare Innovations Congress 2002 19-21June, 2002 Hilton Washington & Towers, Washington, DC http://www.ETHIC2002.com
MIE 2002: The xviith International Conferenceof the European Federation for Medical informatics. 25-29 August 2002. Budapest, Hungary. www.conftours.mtesz.hu/mie2002
EuroPACS2002. 5-7 September 2002 at the Medical Faculty, University of Oulu, Finland. www.mirg.oulu.fi/europacs/general.html
7th International Conference on Telemedicine 22-25 September 2002, Regensburg, Germany http://www.ict2002.org
5th European Health Forum 25-28 September 2002 Bad Hofgastein, Salzburg, Austria http://www.ehfg.org/website02/
4th Nordic Congress in Telemedicine/Nordsk Telemed 2002 30 September – 2 October 2002. University Hospital of Tromso, Norway Torill Berg, Tel: +47 77 754160 or email: torill.berg@telemed.no
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: mdennis@ukeha.org.uk
www.ukeha.org.uk