NHS providers ‘unprepared for transition to HSCN’
Two-thirds of NHS providers feel they are not prepared for the transition from the N3 broadband network to the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN), according to a survey carried out by iGov for Virgin Media Business.
It collected data from 100 healthcare organisations in late February and early March, leading to a claim that most were not aware of the scale of the task, and that nearly nine out of 10 did not know if they had the right skills to manage the change. The transition to HSCN begins this month with the expiry of the N3 contract.
Gerry Arthurs, director of public sector at Virgin Media Business, said: “Health and social care organisations will now need to apply for funding and pay for their services directly, which will give them more control and allow them to tailor a service that is fit for purpose.”
Three Welsh councils sign for One Analytics
Gwynedd Council, Wrexham County Borough Council and Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) County Borough Council have chosen Capita’s One Analytics to bring together information from their different teams working with families into a single dashboard. It will provide authorised staff with a picture of issues affecting children and their families.
The first two councils have procured the solution in collaboration through the North Wales Consortium, while RCT has done it as a single procurement.
A spokesperson said: “The future vision is that there could be an element of cross region reporting and sharing of information in relation to the authorities within the North Wales Consortium to help them meet the needs of children and families.”
Birmingham wins website award
Birmingham City Council has picked up one of the Webby Awards for its website, relaunched in August of last year, with official honouree status in the public sector and activism category under the mobile and apps sector.
The council invested £225,000 in the design and build of the site, working with Spacecraft Digital and using a Jadu Continuum CMS. The process involved workshops with residents and tests on the site’s accessibility, user journey and content categorisations.
Paula Buckley, assistant director, customer service at Birmingham, said: “A Webby is the internet’s highest honour but ultimately it’s down to how our residents find the service and so far, the feedback has been outstanding.”
Belfast unveils bin app
Belfast City Council has released a mobile app providing advice to residents on waste management and bin collections.
Named Bin-ovation, it is free for all Apple and Android devices, it can tell users what they can recycle, how to do so and when their bins are due to be collected. The council is hoping that the launch will lead to a big increase in recycling rates in the city.
