Written question asked by Lord Grayling (Conservative) on Tuesday, 21 October 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 30 October 2003. It was answered by Lord Hutton of Furness (Labour) on Thursday, 30 October 2003 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost of establishing the database for Integrated Care Records System; and how long he expects the inputting of the records to take.

Answer: Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost of establishing the database for Integrated Care Records System; and how long he expects the inputting of the records to take. [134284] Mr. Hutton: The integrated care records service (ICRS) is one element of the national programme for information technology in the national health service. Central funding for the national programme for IT in the NHS is to be made available from the Spending Review 2002 as follows--£370 million in 2003-04, £730 million in 2004-05 and £1.2 billion in 2005-06. The costs for the ICRS are being calculated as part of the on-going procurement and financial management processes within the SR 02 envelope. Exact costs are subject to current procurement negotiations. Due to commercial confidentiality and sensitivity, it would not be in the public interest to reveal the details of the negotiations and the potential costs. The content of the ICRS databases will be generated initially from information already held within NHS systems. This process will be undertaken by local service providers as part of the initial implementation phase during 2004. The ICRS is not about entering historical data but about improving the capture, use and quality of current data and future support to patient care.

Secondary information