As the proportion of senior citizens grows, their special needs are gaining momentum. Human eyesight, for example, weakens with age. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has been developing new NFC-based applications that make life easier for the visually impaired.

At ECR 2012 Carestream Health will showcase a raft of new products and services designed to help radiology professionals improve patient care. These include new healthcare IT offerings, advanced features for its medical and dental/ENT imaging systems and a mobile X-ray imaging system:

23 – 24 May 2012, Paris, France.
The 2nd Annual International Doctors 2.0 & You Congress will convene in Paris to highlight how doctors and other healthcare professionals, patients, hospitals, government, pharma, and payers use Social Media, mobile apps, and Web 2.0 tools to connect and the best practices that emerge for each.

CarePartners Plus announced the launch of a new technology that empowers patients to better manage their health and interact more effectively with their physicians.

In an effort to combat the high number of unnecessary deaths during pregnancy and childbirth, Intel and the United Nations agency, announced a joint commitment to strengthen the skills of midwives and community health workers through technology and training materials from the two organizations.

First Databank (FDB) has become the first drug knowledge base and clinical decision support provider to be awarded accreditation by NICE’s Accreditation Programme.

Advanced Health & Care (Advanced) announced the launch of ‘Advanced Community’. This is the first system designed specifically for community healthcare that has mobile working at its core.

Ascribe announced that Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have ordered Ascribe’s Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) solution. The Trust has successfully used Ascribe’s Web Pharmacy Solution for some time;

Innovative technology developed by UK company Docobo Ltd, will support NHS Surrey in their initiatives to manage patients at home and reduce hospital admissions. NHS Surrey has commissioned Docobo Ltd to supply its new risk stratification tool, ArtemusICS™, that will enable GP practices in Surrey to better target their resources to deliver better outcomes for the 1.2 million people living in Surrey.

CompuGroup Medical signed a contract to purchase all shares in Effepieffe srl. via its Italian subsidiary CompuGroup Medical Italia spa. The company counts around 8,000 general practitioners as its customers and ranks number three in the provision of ambulatory information systems in Italy.