The multibillion-pound National Programme for IT is
adopting the new name of Connecting for Health.
At the Healthcare Computing 2005 conference in Harrogate, NHS IT
director-general Richard Granger said the new name would represent
"what we are about".
The programme has been criticised for failing to communicate
effectively with doctors and other important stakeholders.
By 2010 it aims to provide all 50 million citizens in England
with electronic health records that can be used by health
professionals where-ever the point of contact with the NHS.
Granger said more NHS managers to need to work with the
programme to help engage clinicians. Few managers understood how IT
could help them run their organisations, he said.
Granger emphasised the importance of "ring fencing" money
allocated to IT by NHS trusts. Granger told the conference that had
suggested to NHS chief executive Sir Nigel Crisp that health
service trust star ratings and chief executives’ performance
ratings could reflect effective use of IT.
