Dramatic Funding Increase in Store for NHS IT

A “dramatic increase” in funding to modernise NHS IT is anticipated – but there’s still no word on the overall figure.

That was the message from Professor Sir John Pattison, the DH’s director of research, information and analysis to the Quality Information Solutions 2002 conference in Birmingham this week

”Funds would be highly centralised, ring-fenced and used only for IT developments,” he told the 200 plus clinicians and IT specialists gathered for the NHS Information Authority’s second annual conference focusing on advances in clinical information.

Sir John also said the challenge of getting maximum benefit out of the IT investment planned for the NHS will come under discussion at the department’s October board meeting.

In a candid response to a question about the changes needed, he said, “We could of course install some wonderful IT systems which would result in no benefits for patients, professionals and managers. The biggest challenge is changing work practice and it’s something we’ve been aware of all along.”

He said the Modernisation Agency was involved and the issue was at the top of the agenda for chief executives of strategic health authorities. He was also impressed by the number of trust chief executives who realised that some targets were not going to be reached by “running faster” and that IT could help.

Sir John gave a “keep going” message to trusts currently engaged electronic record collaborations.

”Some people say we should bring it to a shuddering halt but everybody in the NHS and at Richmond House [the Department of Health] feels that would be a disaster,” he said.

He pointed out that there were several new hospital constructions under way, too, and the IT in them could not really be stopped.

”We want to keep going but we want to make sure that nothing quite bizarre is happening that would make it difficult to integrate with them in the future.”

He said the same kind of watch would be kept on compatibility requirements for systems in Scotland and Wales, though “we have to respect the borders”.

In a wide ranging speech to the conference, Sir John explained the vision for NHS IT and outlined progress on the strategy focused on the four elements of robust infrastructure, electronic prescribing, electronic booking and electronic records, the latter having now evolved into a strategy for Integrated Care Records Service.

He said that overall vision conventionally included a hierarchy of support for patient care, professionals and management but that the NHS ought to be able to get all these things out of the same services and systems.