Medical technologies dominated the field at the European Inventor of the Year Awards, which were handed out at a ceremony in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 6 May. The inventors of a pioneering antiviral therapy, a new eye-scanning system and a robot surgery process were all honoured for their work, as was the team responsible for making car frames both lighter and safer.

A UCL (University College London) research team, led by London GP Professor Trisha Greenhalgh, has published its independent evaluation of the first year of the Summary Care Record (SCR) programme. The team found that although the SCR offers real benefits for treating patients in emergency and unscheduled care settings, the "complicated" technical system needs to be refined before being rolled out.

The findings of a report recently published by the European Health Telematics Association (EHTEL) is presented at the eHealth High Level Conference in Portoroz, Slovenia 6-7 May 2008. "Sustainable Telemedicine: paradigms for future-proof healthcare" presents the current achievements and best practice examples drawn from a number of either on-going or completed pilot projects across Europe.

A computer simulation breakthrough could mean fewer medical complications and better surgical outcomes for patients undergoing hip, knee or spinal implant surgery. Each year surgeons across Europe perform a staggering 900,000 hip, knee and spinal implant operations. Implant surgery is one of the most remarkable advances in medical science. Such operations restore increased mobility and a vastly improved quality of life to millions of Europeans.

The majority of European doctors have caught the information technology (IT) bug, according to a new Europe-wide survey on e-health. In total, 87% of European doctors now use a computer in their practices, while 69% have an internet connection. However, lack of training, inadequate technical support and maintenance costs are preventing a wider take-up of e-health applications across Europe.

The European Commission today published a pan-European survey on electronic services in healthcare (eHealth) that shows 87% of European doctors (General Practitioners) use a computer, 48% with a broadband connection. European doctors increasingly store and send patients' data such as lab reports electronically.

COMOESTAS aims to develop an innovative ICT system that allows patients with Medication Overuse Headache (MOH), a common condition and a major cause of disability, to receive continuous and personalised treatment. The system will be based on an advanced Alerting and Decision Support System that follows patients from the diagnosis and supports the physician in managing the therapy, controlling relevant events impacting on patient safety.