Socitm reiterates call for move to shared services

Kathleen Hall , computer weekly
Socitm has reiterated its call for greater collaboration between local authorities in an attempt to get public sector IT heads to improve services and cut costs. Joined-up services between health, education and civil society organisations will be key to deriving more value from IT and reducing overheads, according to a report from the body for public sector IT professionals

Find out more

Maude outlines ICT tendering change

PublicService.co.uk
Companies bidding for public sector ICT contracts are too see simpler procedures and more transparency under government measures, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has indicated.

Find out more

Government shakes up major supplier procurement

Computer Weekly, Kathleen Hall
Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has outlined plans to change the way government deals with its major suppliers. Under the new arrangement departments will no longer be able to sign up to a series of different contracts with the same supplier without any central control or co-ordination. Crown Representatives will be appointed to ensure that government receives the best value for money.

Find out more

NHS CIO Christine Connelly defends National Programme contracts and sets out future plans

Computer Weekly, Mark Ballard
The NHS chief information officer has defended the troubled £12bn National Programme for IT system as her office prepares a strategy to succeed it. Christine Connelly told a conference in London on Tuesday the contracts behind the controversial project represented value for money. She was defending the multibillion-pound local service provider (LSP) contracts with BT and CSC and the IT systems that drew scathing attacks by the government when in opposition

Find out more

Councils learn lessons from shared services

Jo Adetunji,Guardian
Local authorities have been slow to embrace shared services but cuts are forcing them to combine services – one example shows how things can be done. There are growing signs that local authorities are embracing the shared services agenda as severe funding cuts force better efficiency from councils. While the NLGN thinktank said this month that councils must adopt a "presumption to share" if they are to deliver required efficiencies and protect the frontline, a recent survey suggested a significant number were still far from embracing the concept.

Find out more

All prisons to use single patient record system

Gill Hitchcock , Guardian
The government has said that a healthcare IT system for English prisons is due to be completed shortly Care services minister Paul Burstow has said that every prison in England will shortly be connected to a single national clinical IT system for healthcare. Speaking at a conference in London on 16 March, the minister said the system will also allow medical records to follow offenders as they move between prisons.

Find out more

IT and procurement part of the savings to protect police jobs

Jon Wilcox , Publictechnology.com
The Home Secretary, Teresa May, has told delegates at the Police Federation Conference that savings across a range of areas, including IT and procurement, are being made in order to protect police officer jobs.

Find out more

£4m 'clinical portal' system for four Scottish health boards

governmenttechnology.co.uk
IT access system allows healthcare professionals to access the same key 'snapshot' of patient information £4m is being invested in a single-search IT access system for four Scottish health boards of NHS Lothian, NHS Fife, NHS Dumfries and Galloway and NHS Borders. The new 'clinical portal' system will allow doctors, nurses and other key healthcare professionals across primary and acute care to access the same key 'snapshot' of patient information, and will remove the need for clinical staff to log on to multiple IT systems to get the information they need.

Find out more