Milburn says NHS Falling Behind on IT

Health secretary Alan Milburn has characterised the NHS’s information technology as
fragmented and piecemeal, with low levels of investment causing the service to fall behind on IT.

In an interview with the BBC’s health correspondent Chris Hogg, Milburn said it was clear that money for IT in the past has been siphoned off for other projects and as a result the NHS is falling behind other industries on use of IT.

Speaking on NHS progress on IT Mr Milburn is quoted as saying: "It’s pretty fragmented and pretty piecemeal to tell you the truth.

"Money has been put in, but because IT is way down the list of immediate priorities it always falls off the list."

He added: "As a consequence you’ve got the National Health Service falling behind in terms of our IT investment when it should actually be steaming ahead."

In the article that appeared on BBC Online on 4 June, Mr Milburn promised to publish a major new IT strategy this summer.

E-Health Insider understands that the new national NHS IT strategy, backed by up to £5 billion of additional investment, is due to be announced the end of June or early July.

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