Microsoft NHS Resource Centre: news round up
Welcome to the Microsoft NHS Resource Centre’s seven day round up of the latest news from the NHS and the healthcare IT sector.
Swine Flu helpline crashes
The National Pandemic Flu Service website crashed on the day it was launched, after recording more than 9.3m hits per hour. The Department of Health said demand for the service, which went live last week, was “unprecedented.” However, chief medical officer Professor Sir Liam Donaldson said he believed many people were only visiting out of curiosity. He told the BBC: “We have quadrupled capacity but we’re not expecting people to remain curious for very long.”
• Visit the pandemic flu website on direct.gov
Lords criticise NHS flu preparations
The House of Lords’ science and technology committee has criticised some of the government’s preparations for pandemic flu and questioned whether its National Pandemic Flu Service will cope if cases of swine flu pick up this autumn. In a report on Tuesday, the Lords said the government had done well in stockpiling drugs to cope with a flu outbreak, but still had work to do on the helpline, staffing and intensive care facilities.
• Read more on the BBC news website
Trafford gets extra help with swine flu
Trafford Primary Care Trust has implemented Pandemic Manager from business intelligence specialists 21c. The PCT said it would be able to use the software to run its own telephone triage system and control access to antiviral drugs if there was a failure of the national system. Pandemic Manager is based on Microsoft tools. The Trafford implementation is part of a wider piece of business intelligence work under way at the PCT.
• Read more on the E-Health Insider Primary Care website
£25 million for NHS apprenticeships:
NHS organisations will receive a total of £25 million to create 5,000 new NHS apprenticeships by March 2010, health secretary Andy Burnham has announced. The funding comes from a commitment made by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to increase the number of apprenticeships across the public sector. The NHS has 1,500 apprentices at the moment. Mr Burnham said: “In these tough economic times, we must do all we can to provide high quality routes into jobs.”
• Read the press release on the government’s news distribution services website.
Local shops given fruit and veg makeover
The Department of Health has formed a partnership with the Association for Convenience Stores that will see more corner shops have a fruit and veg “makeover” as part of its Change4Life public health campaign. The idea has been piloted by 12 shops in the North East, who saw their sales of fruit and veg increase by 40 per cent. The DH will also support shops in less well off areas and provide fridges to keep produce fresh.
• Read the press release on the government’s news distribution services website