Doubts grow over NHS electronic records project

LABOUR'S £12billion plan for electronic NHS records for patients has run into serious trouble, it was reported today.

Hospitals are said to have put the brakes on installing the computer system needed for the e-records to function. Doubts are now being raised over whether the nationwide programme will ever be completed.

The only acute hospital to have put in the basic computer system for the records network since May is the Royal Free NHS Trust in Hampstead but it has struggled to get it to work properly, according to The Financial Times.

Following the firing of the original contractor, Fujitsu, no hospitals have signed up to work with either of its successors BT or CSC. Frances Blunden, the IT expert at the NHS Confederation which represents health trusts, admitted there were problems but said: "It is a bit too early to pronounce the programme dead."