IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The Scottish Centre for Telehealth is collaborating with NHS Scotland to trial the HealthPresence virtual clinic system to link patients and doctors through videoconferencing without needing medically trained assistants on site.

The Patient Portal, supported by Microsoft, is to be trialled in two GP practices – the Townhead Surgery in Irvine and the Kilwinning Medical Practice – over the next six months.

While there is a one-off cost of £210,000 for creating the new website, there will be significantly lower annual costs for software licensing, support and hosting compared to previous systems. As well as a new website and intranet for the Council specifically, the new system also provides a 'platform' for around 200 other websites that the Council is involved in supporting. Initial savings will be around £190,000 per year with the potential for a further £100,000 annually as these other websites are moved.

Jadu have developed CMS's for over 30 local authorities including East Lothian, Manchester, and Derby.

The protocol is to be used on current and proposed national eHealth systems; it can also be used by the National Health Service (NHS) Boards for local level initiatives should they wish. The aim is to ensure an effective as well as a standardised use of national eHealth systems, in accordance with legal/professional requirements and best practice.

The Telehealth project, a partnership between Argyll and Bute Council and NHS Highland, was singled out at the eWell-Being Awards 2010 in Leeds.

Telehealth was one of five initiatives shortlisted in the ‘Independent Living’ category, which recognises Information Community Technology (ICT)based projects which enable elderly people or those with disabilities to have a better quality of life in their homes and/or avoid hospitalisation or involuntary changes of residence.

Speaking ahead of a parliamentary debate on e-health, doctors’ leaders warned that current measures to protect patient information might not be enough.

Specifically, the doctors say that the Clinical Portal Technology project – which allows patient information to be viewed electronically by a wide variety of clinicians and, in some cases, by others as well – requires tighter controls.

eProcurement Scotland (ePS), a fully managed service for the public sector to buy goods and services online, dealt with 45 per cent more transactions last year, compared with 2007, speeding up business processes and saving public money, Finance Secretary John Swinney said.

The value of transactions carried out using the "eProcurement Scotland" system was £1.7 billion in 2007, five times the previous year's total of £321 million. It amounted to almost a quarter of all public sector procurement, which is worth about £8 billion a year.

Reporting to ministers, the group will develop a draft set of guiding principles for public bodies to ensure that they properly protect individuals' privacy when handling their information. Once developed, a consultation on the draft principles will follow.

In a digital health revolution, access to information and opportunities to share experiences with fellow patients is just a click away with the launch of Moray's health e-space.

The new website - www.health-e-space.com - seeks to encourage self care in health care as residents take more responsibility for their well-being.

MSPs have warned that the development of "clinical portals" to allow access to patient records across the NHS in Scotland, is "slow and inconsistent" across the country.

The Scottish Parliament's health committee also said that "telehealth" projects, which allow care without the need for patients to travel long distances, had also been slow to get off the ground and targets should be set so all patients can benefit from them.

A scheme that allows patients in rural areas to see their doctor via webcam video-link could be rolled out across the country.

People in areas of Aberdeenshire and Orkney are already benefiting from the remote link-ups between local GP practices and Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

The cost in jobs of the pioneering project, set up to help stave off the worst effects of Government budget cuts, has sparked the biggest crisis yet to engulf councils.

The jobs figure is the first real estimate of the human toll of the “shared services” agenda and comes on top of the thousands of staff local authorities are already shedding in the face of the spending squeeze.

The health board is already set to save £1.4 million a year after video conferencing was recently introduced for staff.

Health chiefs think it could be extended to patients, saving them even more money and time.

The new Health-e-Space website, which went live earlier this month, provides local health information, links to recommended websites and suggestions on how to live with health conditions.

Community Health-e-Space, the websites sister site supplies a social networking platform for people to share their health concerns and experiences with others in the Moray area.

NVT, based at Bellshill in Lanarkshire, won a framework contract with the Scottish Government this year which could provide a maximum £6.8m of revenue over four years, depending on how many government agencies opt in to the shared computer support.

Stephen Park Brown, managing director of NVT, said the contract was on track for around half that total, with Strathclyde Police the latest organisation to join the framework.