NHS has abandoned its effort to create “the world’s largest single civilian computer system linking all parts of the National Health Service”

The European Comission has published a report (PDF) entitled: ICT standards in the health sector: current situation and prospects. The report discusses Open Source as well as OpenEHR and difficulties of HL7: ‘…the RIM documentation is
described as being “disastrously unclear”, poorly integrated with HL7 v3.0 documentation,
and inconsistent.

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After the successful first ImageJ User and Developer Conference in 2006, the Public Research Center Henri Tudor is currently planning the second edition of this event in Luxembourg.

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Nine hundred Swedish Pharmacies are switching to Redhat Linux on Intel according to this article: ‘…When you are dealing with people’s health, you really do need an IT system that both the pharmacy and patients can rely on, said Anders Persson, IT manager at Apoteket. We put high demands on the quality of applications, availability and cost efficiency. The switch to Red Hat Enterprise Linux is part of a strategy to offer our customers the best possible access and service, while cutting costs and modernizing our IT infrastructure…’

ZDnet is reporting that the UK’s National Health Service has awarded Microsoft a �500m contract: ‘The nine-year contract, which includes breakpoints at three-year intervals, does not preclude the future use of open-source software, according to the DoH. “The option to use open-source software in the future remains and continues to be evaluated,” stated the DoH…The contract flies in the face of the report released last week by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), the government’s procurement watchdog, which described Linux as a viable desktop alternative for the majority of government users. A spokesman from the OGC was unable to comment in time for this article…

ORLANDO, FL � October17, 2004

The 17th World Conference of World Organization of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians; aka. WONCA, aka. World Organization of Family Doctors was hosted in Orlando, FL by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

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Dr Molly Cheah wins ICT Excellence Awards for Open Source

Dr Molly Cheah, president of Primary Care Doctors� Organisation Malaysia or PCDOM (www.pcdom.org.my), a non-governmental organisation of general practitioners, won the Open Source Software Award for PCDOM Primacare, which she and her organisation were now planning to distribute nationwide.

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eWeek is reporting that the city of Munich awarded a contract for ‘…$35 million to migrate its 14,000 desktop and laptop computers from Windows to Linux and OpenOffice.org…”This is a momentous decision because we believe this truly marks a watershed moment for Linux,” said Seibt, in Nuremberg. “The city clearly sees Linux not just as cost savings over costly, proprietary software but also as the best tool for the job.” Walter Raizner, country general manager for IBM Germany, in Stuttgart, said that with Munich’s decision, one thing is clear: It is open season for open-source computing. “Linux represents freedom and flexibility,” Raizner said…’

Responding to this article at e-health-media.com, Tim Cook has written an open letter to the newly named Director of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service: ‘…Considering your lack of direct exposure to healthcare information systems I assume you will be choosing an experienced team to advise you? Maybe some people from the BCS HIC and of course the people on the PRIMIS project have first hand knowledge of the problems with interfacing healthcare systems and data export/import. I also trust that you have an open mind about open source software as well. Cliches such as “no one has ever been fired for buying Microsoft” may not be true for much longer…

Dear Mr. Granger,

I read with great interest of your appointment as the Director General of NHS IT. For several years I have looked to the UK NHS as the world leader in healthcare IT deployments. The NHS has been a great source of information and inspiration for those of us who desire to learn from history.

Certainly your experience in working with divergent systems will be invaluable in establishing national standards and bringing together the various systems. There is a great need to be able to not only share information between systems. The ability to do something as simple as move a patient record from GP to another, while maintaining the context integrity of the record would be wonderful.

Considering your lack of direct exposure to healthcare information systems I assume you will be choosing an experienced team to advise you? Maybe some people from the BCS HIC and of course the people on the PRIMIS project have first hand knowledge of the problems with interfacing healthcare systems and data export/import.

I also trust that you have an open mind about open source software as well. Cliches such as “no one has ever been fired for buying Microsoft” may not be true for much longer. While many endusers and especially those that are active in the open source healthcare community have known of these security weaknesses. knowingly using software that exposes private patient data to disclosure has to be a violation of the RFA. Isn’t it?

In the hustle and bustle of changing jobs you may have missed this statement by Microsoft Senior VP Windows Development; “I’m not proud,” he told delegates yesterday (5 September). “We really haven’t done everything we could to protect our customers. Our products just aren’t engineered for security,” admitted Valentine, who since 1998 has headed Microsoft’s Windows division. (see Computer Weekly article).

Again, congratulations on your appointment. I am certain I speak for a large portion of the healthcare IT community in saying that we are very interested in hearing about the direction you intend to take.

Also note that the Open Source Healthcare Alliance annual meeting is November 14 – 16 at UCLA in Los Angles CA, USA. We would be honored to have you present your vision of NHS IT at this event.

Sincerely,

Tim Cook
Open Paradigms

The EC Fifth Framework PICNIC project is pleased to announce the “Web Services for Regional Health Care Networks” conference to be held in Paris on
September 26-27 at the Novotel Atria Hotel (Porte de Bagnolet).

PICNIC was initiated by regional health care providers, who are developing the next
generation of regional health care networks supporting new ways of providing health and social care.

PICNIC will deliver open source components, develop a model for future regional health care networks, and make the European market for telematic care services more cohesive.

For more information, visit us at http://picnic.euspirit.org