BMJ  2007;334:1350-1351 (30 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39259.445035.34

Observations

Richard Granger's legacy

Computer says yes—and no

What is the future of the NHS IT programme now that its supremo has quit? Michael Cross reports

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Five years ago, as the NHS considered the Wanless report's call for increases in national spending on health¹, nearly everyone involved in trying to computerise health care agreed on two things: firstly, that information technology (IT) needed new investment, ringfenced so it could not be diverted to more urgent needs; secondly, that IT needed strong central leadership to coordinate developments and to ensure that money was wisely spent.

Remarkably, the government granted both wishes. The 2002 public spending round included £2.3bn (3.4bn; $4.6bn) earmarked for healthcare IT in England. In June 2002 a Department of Health strategy announced that a "new national IT programme director" would be appointed to "improve the leadership and direction" given to IT and ensure "ruthless standardisation."²

Five years on the 2002 consensus has evaporated. The constituency of individuals with opinions about IT in the NHS—vastly broader than in 2002—is divided over the technology, . . . [Full text of this article]

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