- Smart Healthcare, Wednesday 27 May 2009 09.00 BST
An audience at last year's exhibtion. Photo: GNM
After several years of structural stagnation, England's National Programme for IT is starting to change. NHS Connecting for Health has opened up the supply of systems to its southern region, and placed its main suppliers on notice that they must improve by November. Meanwhile, with a general election at most a year away, a Conservative Party which has heavily criticised NHS computing has a good chance of winning.
Kable's Smart Healthcare live exhibition, which takes place on 9 and 10 June at Earls Court in London, will explore both topics. On Tuesday 9 June, Stephen O'Brien MP, the Conservative shadow secretary of state for health and leader of a party review of NHS IT, will give the opening keynote address.
Closing the exhibition on Wednesday afternoon, Martin Bellamy, CfH's recently appointed head, will discuss his plans for the National Programme with SA Mathieson, editor of SmartHealthcare.com. Bellamy has already said that the National Programme has some "missing pieces" alongside elements that he believes are working well, describing acute hospital systems as the programme's Achilles' heel.
In between, Smart Healthcare live has presentations from a variety of those at the front line of NHS informatics. Representatives from trusts including NHS Lothian, North Bristol, Sandwell and West Sussex will share their experiences of subjects including digital mapping, business intelligence, mobile equipment and the joining up of data.
Smart Healthcare live takes place alongside GC live and Public Procurement live. Those attending any of these can see panel discussions on topics relevant to health informatics, including the delivery of public services in an economic downturn and how sharing of data affects its security. There will also be speeches by broadcasters John Humphrys and Andrew Marr.
The show also includes more than 60 exhibitors focused on health, as well as many more in the GC and Public Procurement sections.
SmartHealthcare.com will be reporting live from the exhibition, but there's still time to register to attend for free. Just use the links on the right of this page.
