Electronic health records may not be available in secondary care until 2015

doi:10.1136/bmj.39587.706204.DB

BMJ 2008;336:1153 (24 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.39587.706204.DB

News

Electronic health records may not be available in secondary care until 2015

Michael Cross

¹ London

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

Creating all electronic health records—the centrepieceof the £12bn ( ${euro}$ 15bn; $23bn) scheme to computerise the NHSin England—has been a challenge "far greater than expected,"the latest study of the world’s largest civil informationtechnology programme reported last week.

In its second study of the National Programme for IT in theNHS, the National Audit Office concluded that software procuredto create detailed electronic health records in secondary caremay not be available until 2015, five years behind schedule.

The prediction will provide ammunition to critics calling forchanges to the six year old project’s management, andthe way it obtains patients’ consent for data to be shared.

Chaand Nagpaul, the BMA’s GP negotiator with responsibilityfor information technology, said that slipping deadlines andthe "premature release of systems that are not fit for purpose"has left many doctors "thoroughly disillusioned."

The audit office’s report, the text of which . . . [Full text of this article]

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