National programme for information technology

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7449.1145

BMJ 2004;328:1145-1146 (15 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7449.1145

Editorial

National programme for information technology

Is sorely needed and must succeed—but is off to a shakystart

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

With the national programme for information technology, theNHS in England has set itself an enormous task. A programmeof this size has never been attempted in the United Kingdomand, in many respects, elsewhere in the world. But what is thenational programme, why is it so important to the governmentand to the viability of the NHS, and is it on course to succeed?

The national programme means an investment of £6.2bn ( ${euro}$ 9.2bn,$11.1bn) over a 10 year programme of change. It promises tomodernise information and communications technology across theNHS and provide the tools to help streamline the healthcareservices. It will create a basic health record for all 50 millionpatients, enabling quick and easy access to the essential informationthat anyone making health decisions about a patient needs toknow. It will connect more than 30 000 general practitionersand 270 acute, community, . . . [Full text of this article]

Michael Humber, health informatics manager

BMJ Knowledge, BMJ Publishing Group, London WC1H 9JR (mhumber@bmjgroup.com)

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Open source... or Microsoft: L Duvika Mewasingh, et al.
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