5 years ago... NHS appoints IT supremo

24.03.99: The UK health service has found a leader for its recently formed national IT division - the NHS Information Authority - which will spearhead its electronic patient records scheme.

Following a national recruitment campaign, Professor Alastair Bellingham will become the authority's chairman. Bellingham has served most of his career in academic haematology, holding the chair at Kings College Medical School between 1984 and 1997.

Chief executive of the NHS Executive, Sir Alan Langlands, said Bellingham will bring a wealth of experience to the position, helping to ensure the NHS Information Authority gets off to a successful start.

24.03.04: NHS IT infrastructure - as with any government spending - has been a source of heated debate over the past five years.

Certainly the bosses of NHS IT - including director general of IT Richard Granger, and his new signing and right-hand man Professor Aidan Halligan - manage one of the biggest IT budgets in the world. But that's a 'problem' a lot of IT directors will certainly envy.