Open Health Tools (OHT) today announced a collaborative effort between national health agencies, government-funded organizations and agencies, major healthcare providers, international standards organizations and companies from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States to develop common healthcare IT products and services.

Atos Origin, a leading international IT services provider, announced the signing of a five-year contract with the Gesellschaft für Telematikanwendungen der Gesundheitskarte mbH (gematik) for the implementation of the German electronic health card.

Ascribe plc (AIM:ASP), the innovative health IT Group, today announced that it has successfully installed its Web Pharmacy solution at the Royal Bolton Hospital, part of the Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust and that the site is completely operational. One unique aspect of this 'Go Live' was that, on the same day that the hospital changed its pharmacy IT system, they also brought online a robotic dispensing system; thereby taking a massive leap forward in improving patient care and safety.

Belfast company launches video based e-learning site for healthcare professionals in partnership with leading UK professional bodies. An innovative video based website that can help doctors, dentists and pharmacists polish up on their professional skills whenever and wherever they want has been launched by Northern Ireland based company, StreamOn.

Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG, AEX:PHI) today announced it will acquire TOMCAT Systems Ltd., based in Northern Ireland. Terms of this acquisition were not disclosed. TOMCAT offers a software solution to collect and aggregate data relative to the cardiac care of patients, and allows for a comprehensive, patient-centric presentation of this data to care givers such as doctors and nurses.

InterSystems Corporation announced that the Swedish national electronic health record, known as the National Patient Overview (NPO) will be supplied by TietoEnator using InterSystems HealthShare™ software. The contract is valued at approximately $19 million for the first five years, with an option to extend for an additional two years.

The University Clinic of Schleswig-Holstein (UC S-H) commissioned a consortium of bidders including Siemens, Bilfinger Berger and HSG Technischer Service with the construction and operation of the first particle therapy center (PTC) in Northern Germany. With overall costs of roughly 250 million EUR, this represents the largest public private partnership (PPP) project ever launched in the German healthcare sector.