Manx healthcare gets a shot in the arm

The Isle of Man government has struck a £7.5m, seven-year deal which will see a new healthcare IT infrastructure rolled out across the island.

The deal with System C Healthcare will create a Clinical Care Support Service across the island with software installed at Nobles hospital in Douglas and for several other community services.

The new software will include an electronic patient record system which will use a single patient index for all islanders, allowing GPs to access patient data wherever they are.

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Other improvements will be put in place covering document tracking, maternity, pharmacy, prescribing and several additional areas.

As a self governing community, the island's Department of Health and Social Security chose a different approach to upgrading its healthcare IT systems than other parts of the UK.

Allan Paterson, the Isle of Man government's CIO, told silicon.com: "There's a lack of confidence in the Connecting for Health project."

The new services will use the recently completed 'Connect Man' IP network and be implemented during 2007 and 2008.