Cool BMA response to health service cash boost

The British Medical Association has reacted with scepticism to Chancellor Gordon Brown's £21m award to the NHS as part of Tuesday's comprehensive spending review. A BMA spokesman warned that mismanagement of the funds and poor IT investment could result in the money being wasted.

Dr Grant Kelly, chairman of the BMA's GP Information Technology sub-committee, said: "The problem is that the NHS Executive [the organisation which manages the UK's health service] makes spending plans without consulting those who really know how best to implement IT strategies across the NHS."

According to Kelly, the Executive picks out trusted friends, makes them sign the Official Secrets Act and then decides how the money will be spent. "But this way you only get a single view and badly implemented IT projects," he said.

Speaking for the BMA, Kelly appealed for more openness in the Executive's decision making processes, which he described as "reminicent of the 1950's" in their current form.