Ministers plan to rollout telehealth and telecare systems to 3 million NHS patients in coming years so that patients can be remotely monitored from their home by doctors. The move is also designed to save billions for the cash strapped NHS.
Read more: GB: Government remote care telehealth policy 'could fail'
Somerset Local Authority education advisor Ian GoverGover says the Department of Education (DfE) has waited too long before consulting nationally on the contents of the new ICT curriculum, with September 2014 - the launch date for the new curriculum - fast approaching.
The first thing to stress is that I’m no cheerleader of shared services. Anyone who reads us regularly should realise that we try hard to be independent and look at everything – whether it is technology, procurement initiatives, the performance of public sector organisations – on its merits. We’ve been pretty rude for instance about the lack of best practice shown by some Whitehall shared services operations, for instance! (I have to post hard copy invoices to them – crazy).
Read more: GB: NHS Shared Business Services – were we wrong to be positive?
The Digital Policy Alliance said the government should actually be praised for its telehealth initiatives, which involve patients remaining in the comfort of their own home and being remotely monitored by doctors and other clinicians through internet connected devices.
Read more: GB: Government warned over rapid telehealth rollout risks
At least 95% of councils in England have such agreements with other authorities, up 27 percentage points from 62% last year.
Sharing deals have collectively saved councils £263m since they first started doing so. In December 2011 that figure was just £165m.