£50M for NHS IT – Plan wisely, spend wisely

1999-05-13

It is sometimes too easy to be critical about government spending announcements, so let’s not be for a moment. The money, if it is new, should be welcomed. Trouble is (and I’m still not being critical), IT projects tend to expand to fill the amount of money allocated to them, and hence should be prioritised at a higher level. Whilst difficult to see how the critics can say “it is not enough,” it is also difficult at this stage to know whether it is adequate.

Rather than considering spend, at this stage, the NHS should be defining IT strategy at the highest level. This will enable the appropriate spending decisions to be made based on real priorities. The strategic objectives should share the same values as the NHS, namely to provide an integrated, national, accessible infrastructure which makes the most of modern technologies such as the Internet. In fact, it would be quite stunning if such a strategy did not exist already.

(First published 13 May 1999)