Poll shows strong clinical support for IT modernisation

An online poll carried out by Doctors.net.uk found that has found that 80% of doctors say they support moves to provide the NHS with modern effective IT systems.

The February poll asked doctors to give a yes/no response to the statement "Doctors should be supporting the National Programme to give the NHS modern, effective IT systems". Some 2,200 doctors responded to the poll, which Doctors.net.uk says makes it the largest sample size on the NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT).

A Doctors.net.uk press release, said: "In contrast to a number of previous smaller surveys, the Doctors.net.uk poll reveals broad support from the medical profession for the aims of Connecting for Health…"

Connecting for Health issued a press release which said the poll was proof that the "overwhelming majority believe the medical profession should support the National Programme to modernise NHS IT systems".

The CfH release added: "This confirms the views of the recent Medix survey, and NHS Connecting for Health’s own MORI survey, that the majority of doctors agree that the National Programme is a priority for the NHS."

The top-level figure of support for the broad objective of modernising NHS IT systems was on a par with previous far more in-depth surveys carried out by Medix and MORI. But unlike the Doctors.net.uk single question poll these detailed surveys focused on doctors’ attitudes to specific areas of the programme and their implementation.

The January Medix survey, which was co-sponsored by EHI, identified serious concerns around funding, the security and confidentiality of records, and the implementation of key areas of the programme. Despite these very real concerns doctors were positive about the potential benefits of IT to deliver better patient care. Some 59% of GPs and 66% of hospital doctors said clinical care should be significantly improved in the longer term by NPfIT.

Dr Neil Bacon, CEO pf Doctors.net.uk, added: "This poll shows that when the Government engages effectively with the profession – focusing on areas that clinicians know will help patients – the programme will receive the full support of UK doctors.”

Robin Guenier, chairman of Medix-UK, told EHI: "Medix is pleased that the Doctors.net.uk single-question yes-no poll supports the findings of studies by MORI and Medix which showed a lot of support for the National Programme’s overall concept."

He continued: "Such a poll cannot, however, be considered as evidence of support for all aspects of the National Programme. For example, the carefully constructed MORI and Medix surveys show that doctors are concerned about whether the expenditure of over £6bn is an NHS priority. And six Medix surveys conducted over three years and involving 6,200 responses and hundreds of questions show that doctors are increasingly critical of the programme’s implementation."