NHS lures private sector IT advisors

Three IT strategists have been appointed to the NHS (National Health Service) Information Authority to help set up a network of electronic records for GPs and patients.

Nigel Bell, IS&T director at pharmaceutical company, Astra, was confirmed as the authority's chief executive this week by health minister Baroness Hayman. His four-strong board of directors will include Rosemary Horwood, IT director at Barclaycard, and Dr Lawrence Ijebor, MD of Procom Europe, which supplies businesses with IT and telco services.

However, some healthcare chiefs are critical of the appointments. They say the Information Authority should be there to implement policy, not to make it, and strategic input from commercial IT experts will cause confusion and delay.

Grant Kelly, chairman of the British Medical Authority's GP committee, said: "The NHS has far too many strategies already - but it lacks an implementation plan. What the Information Authority needs is expert medical officials who understand how to take action on the electronic networks for GP and patient records.

"The GPNet project is already one year behind schedule," he added.

But Lawrence Ijebor claimed that technical implementation is not their role. "We won't be second guessing the technical expertise of the NHS, but we will be providing strategic direction," he told Silicon.com.

The authority's board will meet monthly and conduct research on an ongoing basis.