EHI’s industry news roundup 04.01.08

E-Health Insider’s industry news round up for the week ending 4 January, featuring supplier news, appointments, acquisitions and awards.

Supplier News

Manpower Software wins North West Wales NHS Trust contract

Manpower Software has won a contract to deploy its MAPS Healthroster software at the North West Wales NHS Trust. The software allows users to create and manage rosters. The company says it has signed 13 new NHS contracts in the current financial year since June 1 2007, bringing the total number of NHS Trusts working with Manpower Software to 28, in addition to the contract with the independent healthcare provider HCA International. 

CareNotes upgrade to meet CfH requirements

Strand Technology has upgraded its CareNotes patient record solution to run on Microsoft’s .NET framework, making it compliant with Connecting for Health system requirements. The new CareNotes version 4 has been upgraded to ensure the system will meet the requirements for CfH’s Additional Supply Capability and Capacity (ASCC) procurement, making it easier for mental health trusts to keep patient records under the National Programme for IT.

CfH use Ocean Informatics for content modelling

Connecting for Health has chosen Ocean Informatics to provide clinical content modelling services to trusts under the National Programme for IT. The new project follows the successful completion of a pilot study, which tested content modelling as a technique for producing standardised structured clinical data specifications. Using openEHR archetypes from Ocean, CfH hopes to be able to give the NHS tools to help specify the information required to support safe and high quality healthcare across clinical systems in England.

Appointments 

Health Level Seven Appoints Three New Board Members

Health Level Seven (HL7), a healthcare IT standards development organisation with broad national and international representation, has announced the appointment of three new members to the Board of Directors: Dennis Giokas, chief technology officer, Canada Health Infoway;Donald W. Simborg, MD, co-founder, HL7; and Kenneth Lunn, PhD, director of data standards and products, National Health Service, Connecting for Health. Charles Jaffe, MD, PhD and HL7 CEO, said: “These new members will bring to the Board a diverse experience in healthcare IT management, a longitudinal international perspective, and a unique vision for standards development.”

Awards 

Virtual radiotherapy training wins BCS IT award

A virtual training system developed by the University of Hull and Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has won the BT Flagship Award at the BCS IT Industry Awards. The annual awards are in recognition of excellence, professionalism and innovation in IT. The Virtual Environment Radiotherapy Training (VERT) system was described by the judges as an “astonishing development that will significantly improve cancer patient care”. The system provides a virtual training environment that mimics a real life situation, providing learning and training for students in a safe environment.

Joe Fernandez