By Rainer Herzog, Managing Director, HIMSS Europe.
In May, the eyes of European health IT practitioners are going to be fixed in one place: Riga, Latvia, in the lovely Baltic region of North-Eastern Europe. Once frozen in time under a rigid Communist oppression, that country has rapidly opened itself up, becoming not just part of the wider European Union political structure but also becoming one of the most Internet-friendly, 'wired-up' countries in the whole continent.

By Richard Tarring, Commercial Director at Sirona Care and Health Community Interest Company.
Procurement processes and IT deployments in the health service are rarely known for their flexibility or agility. So what happens when you combine a not-for-profit community interest company (CIC) and two innovative UK technology suppliers? The answer for people receiving learning disability and community services in South Gloucestershire is starting to emerge.

By Dr. Adam Hill, Chief Medical Officer at Sectra.
The NHS spends significant sums on its valuable IT infrastructure. But despite this investment, our health service often fails to embrace the service redesign opportunities this technology presents, with major deployments still often layered onto existing services.

By Jane Rendall, UK Managing Director at Sectra.
When I started my career as a radiographer some 20 years ago, I was in awe of the NHS. Its brand and its sheer size was and still is like no other organisation anywhere in the world. But it did not take long to learn that this national institution does not fully harness its potential reach, power and influence as a provider or as a customer.

By Dr. Chris Tackaberry, CEO of Clinithink.
At a time of increasing demand and dwindling resources, organisations such as the NHS have an opportunity to exploit two of the most valuable assets they already hold, that is information about those who use its services, and the technology to record this. NHS hospitals are able to use an electronic patient record (EPR) as the system to bring these assets together.

By Julia Ball, Assistant Director of Nursing from University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL)
During 2013/14, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) treated 1,194,000 patients (or 3,271 patients per day). With the volume of patients set to rise year-on-year, we need to better equip our staff to cope with the additional pressures that will bring.

By Andy Clegg, Clinical Consultant, Orion Health
As a clinical consultant representing a proprietary software supplier in healthcare, you may be surprised to hear that I believe the attention that open source software is receiving in the marketplace is positive. This is not because open source can solve all of the current IT challenges within the healthcare service, but because it has the potential to drive a new level of innovation throughout the industry.