Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Electronic mental health record system goes live in Wirral (UK) E-Health Insider story - "Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Trust has just implemented an electronic patient record system from local company Strand Technology. The CareNotes system also features instant messaging between users, automatic generation of e-mails, faxes and text messages to clients, other staff members and patients themselves, and a web-based interface. This would allow, for instance, notification of a patient's change of address to be e-mailed to a community staff nurse, or appointment reminders to be sent to patients by text. Graham Phillips, managing director of Strand Technology, said: 'The CareNotes solution is the key to the future in mental health care. A member of a specialist team can see a patient in hospital or at their own home and have direct access, if they are authorised, to the patient's records.' "  
  

Scrap 'unethical' mental health bill, doctors urge (UK) Story in The Guardian - "A controversial bill to reform mental health law is so draconian, unethical and impractical that ministers should scrap it and start afresh, doctors' leaders said today. The British Medical Association (BMA) told a parliamentary committee that the draft mental health bill was 'unethical, unworkable and in conflict with the Human Rights Act'... ".