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 vaccination starts despite post strike 

Chief medical officer Professor Sir Liam Donaldson has admitted that he is “little bit worried” about the impact of the postal strike on the vaccination programme against swine flu, which started this week. The Department of Health says it expects local health organisations to make more use of phone calls, emails and text messages to contact patients during the strike. A free SMS service is part of NHSmail, which runs on Microsoft Exchange 2007.

• Read more on the EHI Primary Care website.

DH endorses video game and The Simpsons

The Department of Health is to allow Nintendo to use its Change4Life logo in advertising for the new Wii Fit Plus exercise game, which will be launched at the end of the week. It is the first time that the DH has backed a video game, although a spokesman insisted that it was endorsing exercise, rather than the product.

Earlier this month, public health minister Gillian Merron announced that Change4Life was to spend £640,000 on sponsorship of The Simpsons. Merron said “ordinary” families could relate to The Simpsons, who will be shown swapping pizza for healthy foods in special editions.

DH promises liver strategy

The Department of Health has announced that it is going to appoint a national clinical director to oversee and implement a national liver strategy. Liver disease is Britain’s fifth biggest killer, but could overtake stroke and heart disease if no action is taken. Liver disease is associated with drinking and obesity and most cases are preventable. Medical bodies are also calling for better, more joined up liver services.

• Read the press release issued by the Department of Health.  

Consultation launched on personal budgets

Care services minister Phil Hope has launched a consultation on personal health budgets, which are going to be piloted by primary care trusts until 2012. PCTs can already give individuals notional budgets and money to be managed on their behalf by a GP or another health organisation. The government wants to extend this by giving individuals money to spend themselves.

The consultation will ask for views on the rules that should apply to “direct payments” and how their impact should be evaluated. The government says that personal budgets give patients more choice and control over the services they receive.

• Read more on the Department of Health website.

Herefordshire joins NHS and council IT

Herefordshire has become the first county in the country to integrate its council and NHS IT services. The county already has one chief executive for both its council and its primary care trust, and has been setting up a number of shared services to improve efficiency. The integrated IT department will provide a full range of IT services to the council, PCT and local acute trust.

• Read more on the E-Health Insider website.