The NHS Programme for I.T. (Part 1)

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear - where shall I start? It seems like such a good thing in theory - getting all the technology up to date is excellent - theoretically reducing failures and improving efficiency - the latter happening with appropriate staff training. However, it is something that has had problems from the start.

This topic will be split over multiple posts because it is so huge. I'll be covering it's faults, it's positives, why it was developed and also what I think should be done. It's a subject that I've been talking about for ages, but now I'm posting about it here.

I think one of the first things that needs to be covered though is the description of the programme. NPfIT is delivered by the government agency Connecting for Health. The parts of it are:

• NHS CRS - A new patient records system.


• Choose and Book - A new service for booking appointments and choosing hospitals.


• ETP - This is the Electronic Transmission of Prescriptions, which has been introduced as something which will be faster and more convenient.


• N3 - the broadband network.


• NHSmail - A new central email service.


• PACS - This is the Picture Archiving & Communication System, which will store things such as x-rays.


• QMAS - For those of you who are old enough to remember the Quatermass Experiment, it's nothing to do with that. It's the Quality Management & Analysis System.

The next part in the series will be covering the new patient records system.

Technorati tags: NPfIT, Connecting for Health, IT, Government, NHS

Interpretations of Equality

I think one of the most publicised issues with employee recruitment over the years has been equality. Major milestones were the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 and the Equal Pay Act of 1970. They were in place to make sure that everyone had the same opportunities such as pay and promotion. Nowadays, we see a lot more diversity in the workplace - which is absolutely fantastic. This metaphorical 'glass ceiling' seems to have been broken by a lot of people.

However, some people seem to misinterpret 'equality'. There are people who see this as having e.g. the exact same number of men as there are women. There's nothing wrong with that if everyone can do their job to a high standard. I think that businesses have too much pressure put on them though, which cold lead to them recruiting to meet targets, and not necessarily recruiting those people who can do the job.

A recent Independent article stated that:

"Women have failed to make an impression among the elite group of rich and powerful people who control Britain's boardrooms and public bodies, according to a report published today by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC).

Unless there is a dramatic change in recruitment and promotion, it will take 200 years to achieve an equal number of women in Parliament, 60 years to win parity in City boardrooms and 40 years to reach equality among the judiciary."

It relates to the report called Sex and Power: Who runs Britain? 2007. Stats from the report included:

• 3,067 missing from among the 21,103 public appointments
• 448 missing from among the 1,130 directorships in public sector companies
• 233 missing from among the 751 members of the House of Lords
• 217 missing from among the 914 Civil Service top engineers
• 197 missing from among the 646 members of Parliament
• 162 missing from among the 449 Council leaders in local government
• 101 missing from among the 269 senior police officers
• 78 missing from among the 194 senior judges

It says there are 33,000 top jobs in the UK and the missing women figures are calculated from the number of women it would take to bring the percentage up to 50%.

There are a number of holes in this report. First of all, how did they work out that there were 33,000 top jobs in the UK? This is highly subjective as one person's idea of a top job could be entirely different from someone else's. Also, I agree that 50% woemn is one definition of equality, but like I mentioned earlier, surely recruitment should be based on the ability to do the job properly - not whether you're a man or a woman. I'm sure there are a lot of women who would want to be judged on their merits, not on their gender.

Those 'top job stats' that I quoted concentrated on public sector and emergency services. What about the private sector? There are a lot of top jobs there, so they should be included. That way it can be more representative of the UK. However, there's still an argument for not including the stats at all as the word 'top' is subjective in this context.

It doesn't mention the Sex Discrimination Act or Equal Pay Act in any great detail, it doesn't make use of much private sector information and it's highly negative - not focusing on all the positive steps that have been made in employment. It's calling for positive discrimination, which is just as bad as the other type.

What do you think?

A new year

Happy (belated) new year to everyone. I hope you all enjoyed your holidays aswell.

I'm going back to work on Monday, so I've been catching up on my film-watching during my time off (it's the only time where I'll be able to watch them). Thanks to Sky Movies (and a couple of DVDs) I've managed to see quite a few:

Herbie: Fully Loaded - Yes, it's a kids/teenage level film, but it ended up been quite funny, just not Oscar-winning.
The Pacifier - It was weird to see Vin Diesel in this after seeing him in both Pitch Black films and The Fast And The Furious. Was good though.
King Arthur - Good performances from all the cast. Fight scenes were good too.
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Really funny and was glad that I finally managed to watch it.
Elektra - Saw Daredevil, so I was interested in how good this spin-off would be. It wasn't as good as Daredevil, but was still good as a standalone film.
Wimbledon - Really funny and one of the better sports-based films that I've seen.
Miss Congeniality 2 - Hmmm. Funny, but not Oscar-winning at all.
Flight Of The Phoenix - This was a really good film and I thought the performances of Dennis Quaid and Hugh Laurie were good.
Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow - Great old-fashioned style adventure film.
The Girl Next Door - Really funny, but also really low-brow. Elisha Cuthbert is stunning. Always thought that after seeing her in 24.
Unleashed - This became one of my favourite films. Fight scenes were excellent, Jet Li was awesome in his role and there was a surprisingly good performance from Bob Hoskins.
The Da Vinci Code - Brilliant film. All the actors put in good performances and the storyline was excellent.
The Chronicles Of Narnia - Remembered the story from ages ago when I was young. Good film version of the CS Lewis classic.
Stealth - Good action film with great special effects. I think they could have used Jamie Foxx a bit more though and the computer in the plane was too friendly and obedient towards the end.
The Longest Yard - Good, funny (especially Chris Rock), but also a blatant rip-off of this film.
Serenity - Not as good as I thought it would be, but the jokes were good and so were the action scenes.
Fantatic Four - I don't remember reading the comic, but this was a good film with good action and humour.
The Transporter 2 - Turned my brain off completely for this one. Wasn't as good as the first, but the fight scenes were decent.
Walkting Tall - I think this is the Rock's best film, but Johnny Knoxville could have been better.
Doom - another one where you have to turn off your brain. It was enjoyable though and I don't think it was as terrible as other people make it out to be.
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story - Another film I should have seen ages ago. was laughing all the way through. Both the lead actors and supporting cast were good.
X-Men - The Last Stand - Great fight scenes and the best film in the franchise.
Lightning: Fire From The Sky - Ok film, but the special effects were abysmal.
King Kong - Really good film and an impressive performance from Jack Black.
Star Wars III: Revenge Of The Sith - Great fight scenes and it really made the star wars universe seem vast. The end of the Obi-Wan/Anakin fight could have been better though.
Anchorman - One of the funniest films I've ever seen. I used to be the only person in the world who hadn't seen it.
The Interpreter - Good film. Penn and Kidman put in good performances.

I'm also going to be watching:
Hellboy
Crash

If you've watched any films during the holidays, I'd be interested in knowing what they were and what you thought of them.