Tech Reviews
App and web service recommendations
This article offers some app and web service suggestions. A few are new and others well established, but all offer useful features. Messaging for teams Many businesses provide their employees with instant messaging services to allow calling, messaging and collaboration....
A connected workplace - Part 2
In Part 1 of this topic (bit.ly/ENconnected) the need for a mature ophthalmic imaging network was described. Here, I provide a scoring scheme that can be used to articulate the maturity of existing devices. As with any scoring system, the...
A connected workplace – Part 1
Losing services to external providers is an increasingly common challenge for traditional NHS eye care providers. The external providers tend to have a well connected IT infrastructure, allowing sharing of patient records and imaging data between their different facilities. Working...
Useful and controversial apps and services
These apps and web services are not specifically ophthalmic but hopefully of interest. Office Lens Delegates take pictures of presentation slides at conferences quite frequently. If this is something you do, have a look at the ‘Office Lens’ app. This...
Smart speakers: for patients and practitioners
Many readers will have experience of using smart speakers, such as the Amazon Echo or the Google Home. These popular devices are inexpensive and powerful. In brief, smart speakers listen for a spoken trigger word, followed by verbal commands. Commands...
GDPR, email and private practice
A new set of data protection regulations became law in the EU (including the UK) in May 2018. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) replaces the 1988 Data Protection Act. The regulation brings new rights and expectations about how our personal...
Meltdown, Spectre, Flying Hospitals and Spy Cams
iPhone slowdown In early 2018 users discovered that Apple was slowing down older iPhones intentionally. The reported reason was to prolong the usable battery life. These changes were made without the knowledge or consent of owners. Unsurprisingly, a community backlash...
Eyemate, Big Keys, SeeColors and Lastpass
In this article we are covering four topics, ranging from a service to improve television for the color blind, to an intraocular implant that is now available to measure IOP. SeeColors Samsung have released a new app called SeeColors. The...
A Doctors.net.uk app and more security woes
Doctors.net.uk gets a new app The Doctors.net.uk website is well known in the medical community. Its online services started 20 years ago, in 1998! Since then it has retained its core features of providing email accounts and also an online...
OpenEyes – Community edition
Moving to an electronic patient record (EPR) is all the rage these days, even in the District General Hospitals (DGHs). When I am not writing these articles I work in one such hospital. At Bolton Foundation Trust we deployed OpenEyes...
The Wachter Review
Professor Robert Wachter (pronounced Wokter) is well known in the NHS IT sector. In late 2015 Jeremy Hunt announced he had tasked Dr Wachter to lead a review of the digital future of the NHS. The resulting Wachter Review was...
Social networking
The use of social networking is now very common in both home and work environments. The field is expanding continually and we have had some requests for a roundup of common platforms. What is social networking and social media? As...