Hello, I would like to inform list members about an independent online debate on the use of technology in healthcare, Future Health
Forum, which went live today and runs on the web until 9 November. It is free to take part, and will result eventually in the
produciton of a detailed debate report which will also be free to download from the web site (costs have been covered by our sponsor
Deloitte and Touche).
The topics for debate are highly relevant to this list, and everyone is encouraged to take part in the 'Public Debate' section of
the site - it simply involves registering online to receive a password instantly by email. See below for full details.
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FUTURE HEALTH FORUM
>From November 7-9 2000, Headstar Ltd and Deloitte & Touche are hosting an online debate on the future of public healthcare in the
information age, 'FutureHealthForum'. The debate is taking place at www.futurehealthforum.com and is free for all to join.
The central topic for debate is technology and innovation in the NHS. A 'Virtual Think Tank' of experts and representatives of all
parts of the health service and its diverse user and partner communities has been assembled, and there is also an area where any
interested party can debate the same issues, and members of this relevant mailing list are cordially invited to take part in this
public debating area. The results of the public debate will be fed through into the think-tank, so this is your chance to influence
policymakers including government ministers.
Key politicians will be logging on: the UK Government Minister with responsibility for information technology in the NHS, Gisela
Stuart, is due to take part, as is Jane Hutt, Minister for Health and Social Services at the National Assembly for Wales; Dr Liam
Fox, Shadow Secretary of State for Health; Richard Allan MP, Chairman of the Commons Information Select Committee; and Lord Harris,
Leader of the Labour Group on the Greater London Authority. Government agencies taking part include the Foresight Programme; the
Defence technology agency DERA; and the Health Development Agency.
Other members of our think-tank include Mike Stone, Director of the Patients Association; Ray Rowden, former Director of High Secure
Psychiatric Services at the Department of Health; Alasdair Liddell of iMPOWER and former NHS Director of Planning; Bob Abberley,
Head of Health at public sector union Unison; Donna Covey, Chief Executive of the Association of Community Health Councils for
England and Wales; Dr Humphrey Gyde, Chair of the British Medical Informatics Society; Dr Paul Cundy, Chairman of the GPs'
technology Sub-Committee; Dr Mark Reynolds, Chair of the National Association of GP Cooperatives; Oliver Wells, Vice Chairman of the
Association of British Healthcare Industries.
Joining them are senior representatives of a wide range of healthcare-related bodies including The Telemedicine Alliance; The Royal
College of Nursing; The King's Fund; Women's Health; NHS Direct; the Democratic Health Network; and the Royal College of Surgeons of
Edinburgh, not to mention representatives of a cross-section of NHS bodies such as Gloucestershire Ambulance Service, Wirral
Hospital NHS Trust and Ayrshire & Arran Health Board; academics from universities across the UK from Southampton to Cambridge,
Greenwich to Sheffield; and private sector innovators including Doctor Foster and Pharmacy2U.
International participants include Rene Cluzel of UNESCO, Philip Berman, Director of the European Health Management Association;
Pascal Garel of the Federation Hospitaliere De France; Tim Nater, Executive Director of the Health On the Net Foundation in Geneva;
and many others from Canada, Croatia, Cuba, Denmark, France, Greece, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Saudi Arabia and the US.
The debate's moderators are three experienced analysts and writers: Roy Lilley, the Independent Health Analyst, author and
broadcaster; Christopher Dowd, Executive Editor of Health Informatics Journal; and Dan Jellinek, Founder and Director of the online
debate organiser and electronic publisher Headstar.
DEBATE THEMES
The debate will focus on the following three themes:
1 - The Millennium healthcare organisation
- Organisational issues - the cost and savings equation for technology
- Internal restructuring to implement IS/electronic healthcare efficiently
- Intranets
- Training staff
- Partnership issues
2 - Medical technologies of the future
- Telemedicine
- Electronic patient records
- Internet services - NHS Direct
- New drugs
- Genetics - its long-term effect on healthcare
3 - Patient power
- Patient input into the development of healthcare technologies
- Access for all to online services
- Safety issues: safe use of the internet for health care information
- Freedom of information, security and privacy for electronic health records
- Political issues
Best regards,
Dan Jellinek
Debate Organiser
Headstar www.headstar.com
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