5 years ago...UK government pumps £1bn into health service IT

25.09.98: UK health minister, Frank Dobson, has announced a £1bn IT strategy which he claims will revolutionise the NHS (National Health Service).

The strategy, titled 'Information for Health: An Information Strategy for the Modern NHS', will put IT at the heart of the health service, according to Dobson.

Frank Burns, acting head of the NHS Executive IT department, is behind the strategy which will give every patient, clinician and manager access to electronic health records 24 hours a day. Some paper-based records are currently only available during office hours.

Dobson said the strategy will put an end to the NHS's history of wasting money through bad IT strategies: "Until now, the use of IT has been far from successful. Much money has been wasted." He criticised the lack of awareness used in data systems within the healthcare system. "Important data has been ignored or not even collected," he said.

Grant Kelly, who chairs the BMA GP information technology committee, welcomed the strategy, but is concerned that Burns will not be around to implement it, as he is only acting head of IT. "I seriously hope the support is there for the strategy and that Burns' absence will not mean the money is wasted".

However, on the whole, Kelly was positive: "I'm glad this extremely ambitious project puts clinicians at the centre, which will help to make it a success," he said.

25.09.03: The idea was right at the time but it has taken five years to come to anything. Now NHS IT czar Richard Granger is heading up a £2.3bn national plan that will hopefully finally see the development of a central electronic patient record system, e-booking and an NHS secure broadband network.

Whatever happens 2004 promises to be a critical year for the development of the NHS IT programme and all eyes will be on Granger to see if he can keep it firmly on the rails.