Industry news

New legislation introduced by the government designed to promote competition within NHS procurement has been criticised for promoting privatisation within the service.

Writing to the Daily Telegraphmore than 1,000 NHS staff criticised the promotion of openness in procurement which would allow for private companies to take contracts if they competed effectively with public services.

Critics have also raised fears that the government’s move will distract MPs from their primary function, with their time being refocused to perform procurement functions.

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, responded to the criticism of the legislation saying: “We want to be there to do the best job for patients. That is the purpose of the regulations.”

NHS looks to paperless savings

Google is set to be curtailed by European privacy authorities, as they approve measures to limit the Internet giant’s storage of personal information.

An investigation has been approved after EU data protection authorities grew weary of Google’s failure to respond to criticism of its privacy policy, including a failure to guarantee the deletion of personal data after set time periods have expired.

Leading the investigation into Google will be the French National Commission on Computing and Liberty (CNIL), who have the ability to impose injunctions and give warnings.

US industries strikes out at EU privacy

Glencore have removed the deadline of the 15th of March for completing the acquisition of mining giant Xstrata after failing to get regulatory approval from Chinese authorities in time.

The delay is the third time that the takeover has been postponed following a series of obstacles. These have included Qatar using their stake to block the proposal and Xstrata shareholders going against parts of the takeover plan.

The takeover will create a company worth around £50 billion, with 130,000 employees spanning more than 40 countries. The acquisition has already achieved approval from the EU and South American authorities with Chinese regulator approval representing the final huddle for the protracted takeover.

Europe set to approve Xstrata Glencore merger

BSkyB is to pay £180 million for Telefonica’s UK broadband business, taking control of services used by half a million O2 and BE home line and broadband customers. Another £20 million will be paid after the completion of the customers switch to Sky.

The purchase comes as Sky seeks to become the second largest broadband provider in the UK, competing against Virgin Media.

BSkyB chief executive Jeremy Darroch said of the deal, "The acquisition of Telefonica UK's consumer broadband and fixed-line telephony business will help us accelerate".

Telefonica has sold the broadband business as it seeks to focus on expanding its 4G offering.

The deal is expected to be completed by April if it receives approval from regulators.

Liberty Global to make bid for Virgin Media reigniting old rivalries with Sky

M-commerce sales tripled in value in 2012, reaching £7.5 billion in value as technology and consumer practices advance.

Compared to 4 percent of total e-retail sales in 2011, 2012 saw M-commerce account for 12 percent of e-retail according to figures from the IMRG Capgemini Quarterly Benchmarking Index.

While the report recorded rapid increases in growth during the year, a slow-down was recorded towards the end of the year.

There is a fear among analysts that many retailers are failing to effectively develop a M-commerce presence. NFC payments are expected to further develop the use of mobile devices for e-retail.

Visa and Samsung join forces to push NFC

BYOD topped future trends in IT for the coming year as IT managers rated BYOD schemes as their top priority for 2012-13.

Greater user demand and expectations of cost reduction from the employment of BYOD saw the idea top other popular categories, including the likes of cloud computing, PSN and broadband capabilities, in the professional association for public sector ICT management’s (Socitm) latest annual IT Trends report.

The survey saw that cost savings, flexibility and technological and service development were rated as the top concerns by respondents, with BYOD seen as a progressive and simplistic answer to achieving these goals.

JPMorgan Chase (JPMC) has finished the deployment of one of the world’s largest private cloud platforms.

The PaaS platform will play host to over 2,000 business apps and will cover five data centres globally.

The platform is designed to provide high levels of flexibility and will become essential to all arms of JPMC. The PaaS service itself employs technology from Apprenda.

Ian Penny at JPMC said: “Apprenda has the technology that could deliver on the private PaaS vision of savings and agility, transforming the way we develop and run applications firm-wide."

The Department of Health (DoH) and the Chartered Institute for IT (BCS) have joined together to provide guidance on ensuring the security of digital health records.

The collaboration between the two groups comes as the NHS moves towards the complete digitalisation of patient records by 2015.

The joint guidance released by the DoH and BCS provides specific guidance on creating strong passwords, analysing where data is shared, and highlighting the importance of storing data on secure devices.

Health services which have faced difficulties in the past in upgrading records to a digital system, will be faced with the challenge of ensuring that records are digitalised by the deadline, and ensuring that thousands of professionals in remote locations have access to the records, while all at the same time ensuring that highly sensitive records do not fall into unauthorised hands.

Dr Wai Keong Wong, head of guideline development on behalf of the BCS, said of the advice: “These records contain potentially sensitive personal information, so it’s important that individuals know how to keep them safe. Everyone should take the same care with their health and social care records as they do if they use online banking. This guidance explains how to access records safely, keep them secure, and key factors to consider before choosing to share them with others.”

NHS looks to paperless savings

A new system developed by Kent Community Health NHS Trust (KCHT) will allow staff to employ mobile working, as the trust looks to increase efficiencies.

The system known as the Advanced Community healthcare platform, will allow the Trust’s 5,400 staff to increase flexible working and efficiencies, as part of a three year contract minimum.

The platform will allow employees to move from a paper based records system to digital working, including appointment booking and patient records.

Eldon Macarthur, head of ICT operations and telecommunications at KCHT, said: it will provide a joined-up approach to care. It will also free-up administration time and cut duplication of effort, allowing clinicians to see more patients and spend longer with patients during visits."

NHS looks to paperless savings

A report published by the Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) entitled, Department for Transport: Lessons from the West Coast Work franchise competition, points towards a basic lack of common sense combined with a failure to account for risk, leading to the scrapping of the procurement program.

Civil servants according to the report failed to accurately access the risk involved for each bidders proposal.

PAC has criticised the DfT in the past for procurement failings, including the failure of Metronet, which went into administration after it failed to deliver spending requirements.

In failing to follow best practice the transport department suffered from a lack of accountability, with Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the PAC, saying the government departmnet:“failed to respond appropriately to early warning signs that things were going wrong.”

PAC also highlighted a lack of key skills within the DfT which contributed to a lack of procurement understanding and effective oversight, due to budget constraints.

West Coast Rail Line procurement failure caused by ‘major’ public service failures