IT infrastructure gets low billing from UK government

Investing in the IT infrastructure of the UK health service is not a priority, despite the cash boost of £21bn the NHS received last week. In his Commons statement yesterday, health minister Frank Dobson said most of the money would go towards training thousands more doctors and nurses, and cutting waiting lists.

However, technology suppliers could profit from a host of contracts for the 30 new hospitals being planned as capital investments. Stephen Thornton, CEO of the NHS Confederation, told Silicon News: "This will mean a bonanza for IT suppliers."

Even in existing hospitals, "outdated equipment will be replaced with the newest and best medical science can offer," Dobson promised. The NHS also plans to introduce advance-booking services for hospital admissions, which will require information solutions.

Education Minister David Blunkett, in his speech to the Commons predicted "the expansion of modern technology to support learning," as part of his "classroom of the future." He has been given enough funding to increase education spending by 5 per cent each year from 1999 to 2002.

Blunkett has yet to decide the logistics of the modern classroom - or how much it will cost. His priorities are cutting class sizes and getting two thirds of children into nursery school by the age of three. The minister will take advice from internal advisors and the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency. He is expected to announce the details of his technology strategy this autumn, along with the final stages of the National Grid for Learning.