Making the information revolution happen

Recently, the Department of Health published a three-month consultation on a new information strategy for the NHS. 'Liberating the NHS: an information revolution' may be light on detail, but the UK's healthcare community is already showing how many of the document's aspirations can be achieved.

Sean Riddell, chief executive of EMIS, considers some of the strong foundations that have been built by forward-thinking healthcare teams, who are realising the benefits of freeing information from silos to deliver better and more efficient care.

Two important strands of the strategy are how to empower patients through access to medical records and how to use information to support improved outcomes and successful commissioning. A number of EMIS practices have already given patients access to their records online, while Liverpool Primary Care Trust is using EMIS Web to collect, share and analyse information - with measurable results.

For more information about EMIS and its new system, EMIS Web, visit www.emis-online.com or the EMIS stand at the eHealth Insider Live 2010 conference and exhibition, which is at the NEC in Birmingham from 8-9 November.

Liberating information and working smarter

How do you liberate information from a "closed, bureaucratic system" and use it to deliver better healthcare? Sean Riddell considers some innovative interoperability projects that demonstrate the many benefits of mobilising patient data. He also argues that aggregating data from across healthcare spectrums - primary and secondary care - is key to delivering efficiencies.

The online revolution

Providing more online services for patients - including access to their medical records - is a strong theme of the Department of Health's consultation on a new information strategy for the NHS. A number of EMIS practices have already done pioneering work in opening up records to patients, and have learned a lot about the services that are most popular with them in the process.

Case study: closing the information gap

High quality, up-to-date information is a powerful tool for driving efficiencies and savings and it will be essential for effective GP commissioning. This article looks at how Liverpool Primary Care Trust is using EMIS' new system, EMIS Web, to transform the collection and analysis of business intelligence - and delivering measurable results.