Jeremy Hunt is announcing a new push on - and investment in - electronic prescription and recording systems in hospitals, and the rest of today’s news.

4.57pm: Labour have published a statement responding to what they describe as an admission by Jeremy Hunt that A&E required more staff.

Labour shadow health minister Jamie Reed MP responding to Jeremy Hunt’s admission today that more A&E staff are needed, said: “This is a shocking admission from Jeremy Hunt - his Government has presided over the loss of 4,500 nurses since the election, and now he says that more A&E staff are needed. With A&Es in crisis and the NHS in chaos following the Tories’ £3 billion NHS reorganisation, it’s time Ministers accepted responsibility and got a grip. The NHS is just not safe in David Cameron’s hands.”

4.13pm: Meanwhile, a mental health trust has become the latest NHS provider to admit it will not become a foundation trust independently. We reveal the identity.

4.12pm: HSJ IT reporter James Illman has spoken to NHS England IT chief Tim Kelsey about Jeremy Hunt’s announcement today. He reveals the details and why prescribing and patint deterioration have been prioritised.

3.16pm: The chair elect of the Royal College of GPs has joined Twitter. She will in November succeed Clare Gerada, a noted high profile tweeter. Steve Nowottny tweets: “The next chair of the @rcgp is now, as promised, on Twitter. Follow her @MaureenZk60Original”

1.22pm: We’ve published an interesting exclusive on the mass resignation of non-executive directors from a social enterprise providing community services to the NHS in Bristol. The NEDs are understood to have been uncomfortable with developments at the independent provider.

11.20am: The Daily Telegraph reports on comments from Ann Clwyd MP who is leading the government’s post Francis review into NHS complaints. The paper reports the Labour MP for Cynon Valley in Wales has received 2,500 letters from the public, many of them containing “shocking allegations of mistreatment in our hospitals”.

11.19am: In his latest hsj.co.uk blog, waiting times expert Rob Findlay says the number of patients waiting rose sharply in March, and is now higher than in recent years, which may indicate waiting time pressures to come. But he adds that bed pressures over the winter do not completely explain the increase. The blog also includes his NHS waiting times fact checker.

11.18am Sector regulator Monitor is today tweeting from an engagement session on its processes. It says: “Today we will be tweeting from a meeting with provider CEs and chairs. Tweet Q’s about Monitor’s role and approach to #togetherforpatients”

11.16am: Former trust director and independent consultant Robert Royce tweets about A&E performance: “Historically always improves this time of year & will continue to run OK till about October. Weather related one suspects”

10.33am: The DH has announced: “Adult social care users and practitioners will have a new champion following the appointment of Lyn Romeo as Chief Social Worker for Adults by Minister for Care and Support, Norman Lamb.

“The new Chief Social Worker for Adults will help to improve the quality of care across adult services and act as a champion for those who receive services and the professionals who work in the sector.

“The post will work closely with a Chief Social Worker for Children to be announced shortly.”

10.26am: HSJ.co.uk will hold a web Q&A session with the King’s Fund on competition on Monday, at 1pm.

10.24am: The Department of Health - @DeptHealthPress - tweets the latest A&E performance figures: “96.3% of A&E patients seen in under 4hrs last week, latest stats show.”

9.40am: Health minister Norman Lamb has higlighted inequality in emergency care for people with mental health problems.

9.30am: The announcement follows a sustained focus on the EPR by Mr Hunt, and by NHS England, which made a series of IT commitments in its flagship Everyone Count plan.

9.28am: The ConservativeHome blog has written a commentary on the politics of Jeremy Hunt’s NHS IT announcement.

9.26am: Jeremy Hunt is today set to announce a new drive on - and investment in - electronic prescription and recording systems in hospitals.

The Daily Mail, which has been given details of the announcement, reports:

“The Health Secretary will signal the end of written prescriptions today.

“Jeremy Hunt is to unveil plans for a £260million system that will dispense drugs electronically and, he says, prevent needless deaths.

“At least 11 people died in the NHS last year because they were given the wrong drugs or incorrect doses.

“Medicines are being prescribed incorrectly because patients’ notes are lost, while research suggests that eight per cent of hospital prescriptions have mistakes in them.

“Mr Hunt will announce that he is accepting a key recommendation of the Francis report into the scandal at Mid Staffordshire Hospital, in which hundreds of patients are thought to have died needlessly, for better use of technology to improve care.”

The fund will first be used by hospitals to replace paper-based systems for patient notes and prescriptions, a key step towards an entirely digital NHS by 2018.

8.27am: Good morning, results from a Macmillan Cancer Care survey show some serious care failings, including not receiving food, and being given the wrong drugs. A new poll by Macmillan Cancer Support found that a third of cancer patients in hospital were forced to ask for extra food.

A total of 7% said that the way hospital staff dealt with them made them feel like stopping their treatment early.The poll was conducted on 350 cancer patients treated in the last two years.