A very big idea

摘要

It is the biggest information-technology A project in British history: to provide electronic patient-care records, appointment-booking and more, by linking every National Health Service (NHS) site in England. It involves 270-odd health trusts, 18,000 sites, 28,000 hospital doctors, over 30,000 general practitioners, and 50m potential patients. The first "England-wide" care records should be in place late this year, and every last detail (including patients' access to their own records) by 2010. Already contracts worth over ￡6 billion have been placed. But will it all work? The record of big government IT projects is dire. That is why this one has been designed differently - but, paradoxically, that creates even more doubts.