Volume 1

The Electronic patient record : sixth report of session 2006-07 / House of Commons, Health Committee.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Health Committee.
Date:
2007
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: The Electronic patient record : sixth report of session 2006-07 / House of Commons, Health Committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/122 (page 11)
    different parts of the same organisation. The situation was likened by one witness to a series of “electronic islands” with little ability to communicate.® 12. In 1998, the Government launched an NHS information strategy, Information for Health. The strategy was intended to run until 2005 but was superseded in 2002 by NPfIT. Information for Health’s goals included: e The creation of an electronic health record, containing “lifelong core clinical information” for each NHS patient, by 2005, developed initially by linking local primary care systems; and e Establishing “level 3” electronic patient record systems in all hospitals by 2005 (to include electronic ordering, reporting, prescribing and care management).’ The National Programme for Information Technology 13. In June 2002, the Department of Health published Delivering 21* century IT support for the NHS: national strategic programme, effectively the blueprint for the National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT). The strategy restated the importance of the goals set out in Information for Health but acknowledged that progress had been hampered by lack of protected funding, lack of central direction, poor value for money and a shortage of network capacity.® 14. Delivering 21% Century IT proposed to address these problems through a more centralised, national approach to NHS IT, linked to the ambitious goals and generous funding increases embodied in the 2000 NHS Plan.’ The document stated: The core of our strategy is to take greater central control over the specification, procurement, resource management, performance management and delivery of the information and IT agenda. We will improve the leadership and direction given to IT, and combine it with national and local implementation that are based on ruthless standardisation.® What NPfIT aims to deliver 15. The initial aims of the project were to establish three main systems: ¢« An Electronic Transfer of Prescription service (ETP); e An electronic appointment booking service (subsequently expanded in scope to become Choose and Book); and 6 Q102 7 NHS Executive, Information for Health: An Information Strategy for the Modern NHS 1998-2005, September 1998, p.110. The strategy set out 6 different levels of EPR to be achieved by hospitals, ranging from level 1, “Clinical Administrative data”, through to level 6, “Advanced multimedia and telematics”, p.37. 8 Department of Health, Delivering 21** Century IT support for the NHS: national strategic programme, June 2002, p.1 9 Ibid, p.1 10 Ibid, p.i