Gershon advocates better IT use to free up skilled staff

A leaked report advocating radical measures to improve government efficiency points to better use of IT and skill mix as a means of freeing up better qualified staff for more productive work in the NHS and other public services.

However, the report compiled by the Office for Government Commerce’s chief executive, Sir Peter Gershon, also queries whether enough money has been earmarked to ensure staff buy into new systems and embrace the potential efficiencies to be gained.

Sir Peter’s report – officially an interim one – was leaked to the Financial Times on the day that the Conservative opposition unveiled its heavily-trailed economic strategy.  Unsurprisingly the strategy takes a critical line on current government spending policy and puts forward a plan to preserve health and education spending while reining in other public services and slashing bureaucracy. 

The FT says that Sir Peter’s wide ranging report covering all public services suggests a series of reforms including: the creation of a series of world class buying agencies to improve the quality of public procurement; compulsory online transactions for ‘e-capable’ citizens; and a radical rationalisation of the forms and data gathered to support the work of regulators.

Sir Peter observes that modern IT can help streamline public services but has often failed to achieve this, with e-mail often adding to the burden.  He cites electronic health records as key development in healthcare which could help to achieve the aim of freeing up well-qualified staff to do more productive work than searching for lost records.

The FT reports that Sir Peter embarked on an “unprecedented consultation” before writing the report.  IT companies, IBM and Hewlett Packard are listed among the private sector contributors to his thinking.