Interoperability now comes to self-service kiosks in England’s NHS
The “Nicholson challenge" is a set of mandates put forth by the England’s NHS leader Sir David Nicholson. It aims at identifying, and tapping, efficiency potentials in the service.
Economy
Article • Great Britain
£250 million for innovative cancer treatment
A major new cutting edge radiotherapy treatment will be available in the UK thanks to £250 million of government funding to build two new facilities in Manchester and London, Public Health Minister Anna Soubry confirmed on August, 1.
Truth behind the thousands of “needless” deaths at NHS trusts
Statistics behind the headlines: Have there been 13,000 needless deaths at 14 NHS trusts?
EuroMedLab 2013
Milan, Italy – The 20th European Congress of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine certainly lived up to its claim as the EU’s largest event of its kind – 2,407 visitors and 4,786 delegates from 101 countries plus 82 exhibitors fanned out or arranged themselves over the event’s 3,500 square metres, Hanna Politis reports
China looks inward and outward
From the meetings between the Presidents of China and the USA came the slogan, ‘A new model of cooperation’. One item discussed was the proposed $4.6 billion purchase of a US pork producer by a Chinese company, which affirmed: ‘the acquisition won’t affect the quality of the bacon on stateside breakfast tables’.
LEAN workflow analysis
This year’s EuroMedLab and IFCC-EFLM Congress came at a time when all hospitals face ever-increasing healthcare costs, aging populations and patients and GPs demanding more complex and novel diagnostic tests.
Faster sample analysis for UK and EU hospitals
Run by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the new automated Medical Laboratory at the Northern General Hospital has drawn a previously fragmented service into a purpose-built centre.
Program May Hold Promise for Reducing Avoidable Hospital Readmissions
Recent federal legislation imposes financial penalties on hospitals that experience excessive patient readmissions within 30 days.
hospitals offers private services to boost income
Figure includes growing number of NHS hospitals offering patients the choice of a new private care option to “self fund” treatments at cut-price rates
News • Data Management
Health Information Exchange Systems are Critical to Integration of Healthcare Services
Health information technology providers must develop dynamic and easy-to-install information systems to dispel client concerns about interoperability and compatibility.
Breast tomosynthesis helps a small radiology centre to compete and grow
Dr Martínez Miravete didn’t set out to change breast imaging in Spain when she first adopted breast tomosynthesis.
Healthcare economics
Research using an analytical health economics model has suggested the current system of screening within the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is only moderately likely to be cost effective.
Gastein 2013 on resilience and innovation
‘How can we make European healthcare systems resilient against crises and still remain innovative?’ asks Professor Helmut Brand, President of the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG), highlighting the core issues of this year’s agenda of the renowned event (2-4 October).
Space: US exams come down to earth
Remote US examinations is not science-fiction; they are now available for real-time diagnostics.
Patient Logistics Drive Hospital Construction
Until recently, hospitals were built the way they had been built through the centuries. Today, hospital design is shifting towards patient logistics, opening up totally new perspectives.
Diagnostic imaging service extended
Medical Equipment Solutions and Applications (MESA) and Euromedic International have agreed to extend their current diagnostic imaging service and maintenance partnership covering Euromedic’s Tier 1 (MRI, CT, PET-CT, Gamma Camera and Angio) and Tier 2 (mammography, ultrasound and other general X-ray) systems.
No systematic link between medtech innovation and increase in healthcare expenditure
MedTech Europe, the alliance of European Medical Technology Industry Associations, welcomes new research from the European Health Technology Institute (EHTI) confirming that there is no uniform relationship between medtech innovation and an increase in healthcare expenditure.
Barco and Ventana offer digital pathology imaging platform
Healthcare imaging expert Barco has signed a worldwide agreement with Ventana Medical Systems, Inc., a member of the Roche Group, to provide its leading diagnostic and clinical review display systems for use with the Ventana Virtuoso image and workflow management system, offering a best-in-class, turnkey image viewing solution.
Staff who smoke cost companies thousands of pounds more
Employers have to pay around £4,000 more a year to employ a member of staff who smokes compared to a non-smoking employee, finds research published online in the Tobacco Control journal.
Strategic lab control
Managing physicians’ test requests is a key ingredient of modern lab management. However, doctors and nurses still do not provide the clinical reasons for orders to all labs.
Big Iron meets Big Data
Lab instruments are marvels of modern technology able to dice, splice and analyse microscopic specimens. Yet pushing the results into modern medical reporting systems is as slow, and often as painful, as pulling teeth.
Strategic acquisition
Canadian firm Labotix Automation Inc. has been acquired by the Cerner Corporation based in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, amid predictions that the combination of the Labotix’ solution with Cerner Millennium and Cerner Copath will create the most comprehensive set of capabilities on the market to support high volume testing.
One third of German hospitals are in the red
Government grants €1.1 billion to help finance rising personnel costs and increase nurses specialists in infection prevention and control
Market Trends in Europe Interventional Radiology and Cardiology
The European market for interventional radiology and cardiology is heading towards maturity, especially in Western Europe. Although the economic slowdown and fewer orders had a negative impact on revenues in 2012, it is expected that expanding applications of interventional systems and the popularisation of hybrid solutions will drive market growth over the 2013-2017 period.
Multi-dimensional planning is the future
Hospital refurbishment or new buildings can quickly run into several million euros.