Can the NHS get connected?

摘要

However, political consensus does not extend to one high profile reform introduced under Labour—the ￡13bn (?15bn; $21bn) programme to computerise the NHS in England. The NHS National Programme for Information Technology (often referred to as Connecting for Health, afterthe agency set up to run it) has emerged as a symbol of what opponents describe as the government's incompetence in procuring and developing information technology (IT) systems and cavalier attitude towards civil liberties. Fears are now growing, even amongthe programme's critics, that populist shortterm measures may set backthe NHS's already delayed move towards computerising medical information.