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Dept of Health

Answer

Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures have been introduced in the last three years by Her Majesty's Government to reduce (a) the level of bureaucratic duplication, (b) burdens on professional staff and (c) administrative difficulties in the application and use of information technology at a local level. [116857] Ms Stuart: Our consultation on information management and technology in the National Health Service resulted in the publication of the national Information Strategy "Information for Health", which describes a number of national measures that are intended to reduce the administrative burden on NHS staff. "Information for Health" is a national strategy for local implementation. Each health community is responsible for developing its own Local Implementation Strategy (LIS). The purpose of the LIS is to describe how each local community will develop its own information systems to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of care, including reducing unnecessary bureaucracy and administrative duplication. The national initiatives that are intended to support LISs and local health organisations are wide ranging and include: A reduction in the number of central communications and changing the style of communications to electronic format. Since February 2000 the Department has been issuing weekly chief executive bulletins by e-mail to NHS organisations and local authorities. The number of circulars is being greatly reduced and used only for urgent and high priority messages. The full circulars are published on the Department's website and the e-mailed bulletin provides an immediate notification and summary of what has been published with a link to the full document. "Project Connect" will provide 24 hour, 7 day a week, desktop access for general practitioners and primary care teams to an improved service covering e-mail, online information and knowledge, appointment booking, referrals, discharge summaries, radiology and laboratory test results. The costs of connecting primary care to NHSnet are being met centrally. After considerable work on this project over the last two years, a significant watershed is now being reached with critical mass of infrastructure and connection of GPs being achieved in many places. "NHS Direct" was launched two years ago. Researchers have found evidence to suggest that the introduction of "NHS Direct" has been associated with halting an upward trend in demand for out of hours services. The "NHS Direct" on-line website service launched last year provides the public with a direct gateway to the best of health information on the internet. A national procurement review has been undertaken to identify what can be done to ensure that local health organisations do not have to undergo unnecessarily burdensome bureaucratic processes when purchasing information systems. The aim is to ensure that work undertaken by local organisations will ensure the best possible solution for local healthcare delivery, keeping administrative overheads to a minimum. To achieve this communities are expected to implement nationally agreed standards, and make use of national call-off contracts and supporting documentation. The NHS Information Authority is in the process of developing, agreeing and implementing a range of national information and information technology standards that will then be implemented as part of LISs. The standards will facilitate a reduction in the number of times patient information is collected; improve the quality of communication between healthcare professionals and the quality/consistency of information available across the health service. Electronic access to this information throughout the NHS will multiply the benefits already experienced by more advanced sites locally and have a significant impact upon the administrative burden. "Information for Health" is underpinned by an education, training and development strategy "Working Together with Health Information". This strategy, published in December 1999, builds upon previous work to develop NHS-wide standards for information proficiency, and will make use of virtual technologies to provide local NHS staff with the access to learning resource that they need. The initiative will ensure that the lessons learned in one health organisation are available to other organisations and thereby allow more informed decision-making about the kinds of intervention required. At the same time the approach will help prevent duplication of effort where effective solutions have been identified.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

347 c512-3W; 116857

Session

1999-00

Subjects

Bureaucracy ICT General practitioners Email NHS Primary care Management Medical records Standards Training NHS Direct Circulars NHS Information Authority

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk