By Tim Dunn, General Manager, FairWarning.
A few weeks after the publication of the Caldicott2 recommendations and having had time to review them in detail, I can only applaud the outcome of the huge task undertaken by Dame Fiona and her team. Not only does the report mark a decisive step forward for patient privacy, it lays the foundation for building a secure and trusted digital healthcare system and the achievement of a paperless NHS by 2018.

By Colin Reid, Chief Executive of TotalMobile.
We are on a journey. The Department of Health's (DH) first mandate told the then NHS Commissioning Board where we needed to get to in order to deliver an improved national health service. The DH's 'Power of Information' strategy plotted the routes of healthcare providers, commissioners and technology suppliers to drive better heath, care and support.

By Dr. Paul Shannon, consultant anaesthetist in the NHS and medical director at CSC.
Following heath secretary Jeremy Hunt's recent challenge to the NHS to 'go paperless' by 2018, doctors and hospitals are going to need IT tools to coordinate care electronically. Care coordination is essential to avoid duplicate treatment and to prevent medical errors.

By Elena Bonfiglioli, Senior Director for Health, Public Sector EMEA.
Health modernization empowers citizens to take greater control over the management of their health. Citizens are increasingly demanding personalized health information and quality care. Adopting information communication technology (ICT) in healthcare, therefore, is critical for its transformative nature that provides citizens access to personalized data which can increase levels of transparency and allow patients to make more informed decisions.

By Wayne Parslow, Vice President of Harris Healthcare EMEA.
It is no secret that IT in healthcare is less advanced than in most other industries. Anyone looking in from banking, where highly personal financial information is continuously and securely shared, or from a background where social media is actively used to publish locations, photos, thoughts and messages on a daily basis, would probably find themselves struggling to get to grips with the way that patient information is stored on a piece of paper in the place where the patient was treated.

By Shane Tickell, CEO, IMS MAXIMS.
As an ardent believer in the need for progress in healthcare I shouldn't suffer nostalgia for the NHS of yesteryear. But, like many others, there are moments when I have the sense that something has been lost. You know the sort of thing - the lament for a golden era where the GP was almost an extension of the family.

By Joshua Rowe, CEO of Broomwell Healthwatch.
Imagine that you start to experience unfamiliar chest pains. What would you do? Like most people, you're likely to call or visit your GP surgery and ask for an emergency appointment.