The International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO) announced a collaborative arrangement with the World Health Organization (WHO) to harmonize WHO classifications and SNOMED CT for the benefit of citizens around the world.

The Region of Skåne, Sweden, announced in the autumn of 2008 a tender for a patient record system to the primary- and outpatient care institutions in the region. The tender covered the entire "Hälsoval Skåne" that today consist of about 130 healthcare centers, 140 child healthcare centers and some 130 centers working with rehabilitation.

Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) and Dako, a Danish company specializing in tissue-based cancer diagnostics, have signed an agreement to integrate a selection of Dako's image analysis applications into Philips' future digital pathology solutions.

InterSystems announce that NHS Wales Informatics Service (NWIS) has selected InterSystems as its National Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) partner.

iSOFT Group Limited (ASX;ISF) has announced a three-year contract with Dutch care group Zorggroep Noorderbreedte (ZNB) to further develop its hospital information system and electronic patient record at the Medisch Centrum Leeuwarden (MCL), a large teaching hospital in the Netherlands.

iSOFT, one of the world's leading health information technology companies, welcomes the measures outlined in the UK government's white paper, 'Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS'.

Details of the new NHS spending plan released by the health secretary includes a sustainable plan for the NHS to deliver efficiency savings in the same way as the rest of the public sector.