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Great Britain Prime Minister Tony Blair's plans for an £1.1bn IT-led reform of London's health service must meet a series of "critical" challenges before contracts are awarded, although deals were due to be signed yesterday, according to a leaked NHS document. The paper, which set out a formal business case for an Integrated Care Records Service in London under the £2.3bn national programme for IT, revealed that uncertainties existed over the full cost of its implementation. INSET: Leaked problems.

The article reports that papers obtained under the Freedom of Information Act of Great Britain show that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair had sought to shorten the timetable for the National Health Service (NHS) information technology (IT) program. Papers show that the Department of Health underestimated the time it would take to make electronic patient records available online. But Blair regarded even the 2004/05 timescale as too long. He asked repeatedly for it to be shortened, which would have brought visible benefits in time for a general election in May 2005. The papers raise questions about whether the timetable was geared towards a general election.

The article presents information on developments in information technology (IT) training in Great Britain. In march 2005, government skills white paper will give employers unprecedented influence in shaping the future of IT training in Great Britain, the head of public private training body E-Skills in Great Britain said. The white paper lays the groundwork for a series of national initiatives designed to boost the skills of Great Britain workforce and to provide employers with the skilled staff they need. The government's National Employer Training Program, announced in the white paper, will provide free work-based basic IT training to staff in small and medium-sized firms. The paper also proposed an IT Skills Academy — a specialist college that will work with employers to train youngsters and adults in the IT skills demanded by industry and develop IT training curricula and qualifications. Plans include better IT-related careers material for youngsters at school and an extension of the Computer Clubs for Girls initiative, which is helping to encourage young women to consider careers in IT.

Presents news briefs related to the field of information technology in Great Britain. Plans regarding the acceleration in the house-buying and selling by the Land Registry; Consultation being conducted by the deputy Prime Minister John Prescott; Research conducted on the dominance of paper in the purchasing process.

The article reports on the contribution of Dell Computer Corp. on environmental thinking on their project Multipack in Great Britain. The said project is the name Dell has given to its initiative to pack large numbers of systems in cardboard boxes. According to the company, there are about 25 percent less of its new packaging. Customers can receive up to 10 environmentally catastrophic blades in a single box. Moreover, Dell thinks that the plan will save 2,000 tons of cardboard, 1,000 tons of wood pallets, and 300 tons of paper.

The article focuses on the failure of the online passport system of the Passport Service of Great Britain's Home Office. The department has requested people to apply for passports in paper format. EPA2, a new electronic passport application service that was being used by the department, was causing delays in the issue of passport. The department had received 18,000 applications via the EPA2 system, out of which 5,000 have still not been processed. The Passport Service did not comment on the reasons for the failure of the system.

Reports on the application of customer relationship management software from software company Oceanus at Cumberland Building Society in Great Britain. Reason for implementing the software; Benefits of the software for the company.

Reports the launch of a business-to-employee program by British Airways PLC. Transfer of internal processes to Web-based systems; Effort of cutting operational costs; Aim of reducing the need for support staff; Reorganization of the information technology department of the company.

The article reports on the integration of Web-based computer applications within the maintenance operations of Brunelcare in Great Britain. The integration of the Impact: Response application which has been developed by Impact Applications has improved the efficiency of the housing charity's manual maintenance operations by 25 percent, specifically its paperwork. Accordingly, the system is based on a zero-client approach which requires no additional software installation on user devices, thus supports job requests through resident support coordinator or via call center.

The article comments on a proposal of the British House of Commons Public Administration Committee to Computer Weekly for a paper on the implications of ID cards for public services. There are undeniable benefits in ID cards for some government departments, agencies and the wider public sector, if the scheme is implemented successfully. Computer Weekly may be more confident if the government undertook to publish the business cases for projects, Gateway reviews prepared by the Office of Government Commerce and audit reports on the progress of schemes to exploit the opportunities created by ID cards. Without fully understanding the risks or knowing the progress of projects to take advantage of ID cards, Computer Weekly cannot give its unqualified support for large new investments by government departments and agencies to exploit ID cards. Computer Weekly is not in a position to give advice on whether government IT systems should be adapted and/or simplified to make use of ID cards, assuming the ID cards scheme itself is successful. It recommends that the committee request an independent report, commissioned after competitive tender, on the implications for government departments and the wider public sector of ID cards.

Car manufacturer Toyota has upgraded its dealership wide area network in Great Britain from ISDN-based leased lines to IP VPN links. The Wan, which connects 235 British dealers to the Toyota network, provides all the tools and information dealers require. Toyota selected BT's Netequip managed wide area IP networking solution for the task. Toyota is now working with Omnetica on trials to provide secure links using digital certificates to other car sales channels.

Comments on the issues related to service legal agreement of companies and Internet service providers in Great Britain. Coverage of resilient power availability; Use of more than one carrier for insurance against downtime; Fix time of maintenance work.

Reports on the use of electronic funds transfer software by a U.K.-based cat welfare charity organization, Cats Protection. Benefits to be gained by the organization from the electronic system; Social services provided by the organization; Obstacles faced by the organization prior to the electronic system's use.

Reports the assurance sought by Newspaper Society from Sun Microsystems following the information technology heist in Great Britain. Concerns on the leaks within the company and other companies; Money spent by Express and Star Group on security measures; Failure of the gang to overcome additional security devices in the raid.

The article reports that two independent studies of the Great Britain National Health Service's (NHS) information technology (IT)-based modernization plan suggest that some costly systems may go unused by many doctors and nurses--a risk little mentioned by officials when the program was launched in 2002. The documents lend support to the claims of critics over the past three years that Whitehall will find it difficult to gain support among local clinicians for systems that are supplied centrally and which require major changes in working practices. The national program for IT in the NHS (NPfIT), for which contracts worth £6.2bn have been awarded, was launched in spring 2002 before any parliamentary or public debate on how much it should cost, or what shape it should take. The documents, published last week, show that although the aims of the NPfIT are strongly supported by NHS staff, there is concern about how well the program is progressing. A draft consultation paper issued by the British Computer Society's Health Informatics Forum listed many benefits of the NPfIT so far but said there were still fundamental ignorances of what the new solutions are intended to address. INSET: Avoid focus on criticism, say health service officials.

The document highlights the successful work achieved so far and the problems faced by the Department of Health and British Telecom PLC (BT) in timetabling the roll-out of new IT-based services to clinicians. The paper sets out British Telecom PLC's obligations under a 10-year contract as local service provider for London to help modernise the capital's health services under the government's national programme for IT in the National Health Services. The programme has five local service providers and two national systems providers across England, with BT having the largest share of the contracts. It conducted a survey of trusts to assess their state of readiness for new systems and what they would require from the company. The results were compiled in a BT paper, London LSP Project — Detailed Implementation Plan, which is marked confidential and commercially sensitive. However, the BT paper gives an early indication of the difficulties that will be faced by the health service as it seeks to meet its commitment to local service providers. The documents show that compliance with the contracts is in many ways at least as onerous for the NHS as it is for the Contractor. INSET: Implementation of systems under the national plan for IT.

The article offers information on the United Kingdom's government plan for improving the UK's digital public services. It mentions that Whitehall has been asking every permanent secretary to ensure that their department has the capacity to drive through achievement of the key government targets and to take a personal responsibility for ensuring that this happens.

The article discusses papers obtained under the Freedom of Information Act that reveal risk of compensation claims. The released papers show that some Great Britain National Health Service (NHS) organizations are now calculating the potential cost of meeting claims for compensation from suppliers for not supplying staff. There are also discussions within the NHS over where liability would lie with hard-pressed trusts fearing their budgets could be raided to pay compensation. The National programme for Information Technology has set up a "supplier attachment scheme" to encourage employees to join the local service providers. Despite this, the shortfall in NHS people joining suppliers remains, in part because employees earn only health service salaries but work alongside supplier staff who may in some cases earn more than twice as much. The National programme for Information Technology shows no sign of directly shouldering the responsibility. Separate minutes of the South West Peninsula Programme Board.

The article informs that the government of Great Britain does not plan to review rules on the use of computer evidence in court, despite its link to the Post Office Horizon scandal. It is noted that the subpostmasters were convicted based on evidence from the Horizon computer system used in Post Office branches, but this evidence was later proved to be unsafe because of errors in the information technology system.

The article reports on a confidential Connecting for Health briefing paper for the prime minister, which claims that much of the National Health Service's 12.4 billion National Program for Information Technology is complete in Great Britain. The paper, dated February 19, 2007 is set to be realized although an integrated national care record system has yet to materialize, and software delivered under the scheme has been criticized by some legacy information technology suppliers as not yet fit for purpose. Further, the paper put the progress towards a life-long health record service at about 35%.

Great Britain health secretary John Reid, announced a five-year contract worth £ 64.5m for SchlumbergerSema to run an England-wide system that will allow GPs to book hospital appointments online. It is the first major contract to be awarded in the £2.3bn national programme for IT (NPfIT) in the National Health Service. The National Electronic Booking System would be a revolutionary step in creating an NHS that was truly patient-centred, he said. By 2005 patients would no longer have to wait weeks to receive a notice of a consultation on a date that was inconvenient; appointments would be booked online at a time and location to suit the patient, he said. INSETS: Measuring success: what if GPs do not use the system?;The NHS national programme for IT: key dates;How much will the national programme cost?.

The article presents information on the National Audit Office's (NAO) report on the National Programme for Information Technology (NPFIT) of Great Britain's National Health Service (NHS). Sources revealed that the NAO removed some of the criticisms on the NHS Information Technology programme from its final report. The headline of the draft was changed in the final report. Health minister Lord Warner had received a paper from the Computing Research Committee raising some questions about the NPFIT, some of which are not yet answered. However, the final report of the NAO contained extra pages favorable to the programme. In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, the NAO has made public some correspondence between its senior auditors.

Health Service organisations in London, England have been warned that a failure to carry out a wide range of implementation measures for the £2.3 billion national programme for information technology (IT) may place the NHS in default of its £996 million contract with local service provider BT. The warning was contained in a briefing paper, that summarised the contract with the BT-led Capital Care Alliance (CCA), which won a 10-year deal in December to run NHS IT systems for London's population of 7.2 million people. But the paper also revealed that core services, which are funded centrally, exclude two of the most significant costs of implementing the national programme, training of doctors, nurses and other staff and change management. The document said trusts would have the opportunity to commission and pay CCA to train doctors and other NHS staff. INSET: What trusts will have to provide.

The article reports that a confidential paper issued to the board of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHNT) states that new initiatives under the £12.4 billion National Programme for IT (NPfIT) are under-funded and over-ambitious. It must be noted that LTHNT is the largest trust in Great Britain. The NPfIT was set up mainly to give 50 million people in England an electronic health record they could see and alter, and which would be accessible across the country by authorized clinicians.

The article reports that some staff and executives of the British National Health Service (NHS) involved in implementing the national programme for IT (NPfIT) have serious misgivings about aspects of the scheme, including its failure to engage local health employees. Their concerns were highlighted in a paper titled "Challenges to Implementing the National Programme for IT: A Qualitative Study," published in the British Medical Journal. An IT manager in one of the trusts told the researchers that the NPfIT had organised "some wonderful events" but that communication had been "absolutely appalling". The paper also acknowledged that some of the biggest problems that could affect the success of the NPfIT were not always within the power of those running the national programme to solve. Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and ethics at the British Medical Association, said that large-scale public IT projects do not have a good track record in Great Britain and so it is paramount that the NHS learns the lessons of history and engages wherever possible with the frontline staff who will be using the new systems to deliver better patient care. She added that Connecting for Health, which is running the IT programme, had "more recently made significant progress in its efforts to involve NHS staff."

This article focuses on the NHS' IT program in Great Britain. Briefing papers reveal a lack of communication between ministers and officials and the frontline IT managers who will implement the NHS national programme. The papers highlight a gap between the day-to-day realities confronting trusts and the reassuring comments about the costs of the programme by health minister John Hutton on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme last week. The paper is by Yvonne Preece, acting director of IM&T for the Weston Area Health Trust. The National Care Records Service, which will include a national database of patient records for 50 million people, will be implemented as a single database for the whole of England. Preece's paper for the North Bristol Primary Care Trust lists a series of benefits and risks of implementing locally the national programme for IT in the NHS. Delivery of care in a wider range of settings through providing online access to patients' records, x-rays and diagnostic results. INSET: Benefits and risks of local implementation of the...

This article presents information on the daily schedule of an executive, related to the computer industry of Great Britain. On Monday, he is busy for the final meeting of the zero paper project board. Incoming paper is now banned, although there is a quarantine section next to reception where stuff can be scanned and squirted into the workflow system. The other main problem is the noise quality. On Tuesday, he found himself in a small market town as a favour to old pal Dauton Moves, who once had a proper job but now works for NoIDeA — the "transformation" agency for local government. Moves is advising Issacs and Maggies District Council's management team on how they might transform themselves. Various methods were discussed, but in the end it was agreed that the most effective was to administer the foaming elixir from a large conical glass in the traditional manner. On Wednesday, he had to conduct a disciplinary hearing this afternoon. Friday is a bank holiday, in Upper Volta, so he is going down the golf course.

Initial demand from London National Health Services trusts for new national systems from the capital's local service provider British telecom PLC is much less than contracted for in the first year and far higher than expected in the second year, according to a leaked paper. The demand for a portal giving access to a care records and electronic booking service was only seven, against 73 specified when the deal was signed. However, the British Telecom PLC paper disclosed that demand for bundles in the Financial year 2005/2006, in which the systems on offer promise much greater functionality than in the initial release, is "considerably above that anticipated in the agreement".

In October 2003, the Great Britain Office of Fair Trading (OFT) published a consultation paper aimed at the information technology (IT) sector explaining the legal obligations for businesses selling goods or services to people at a distance, whether over the Internet, by phone, or fax. The paper aims to encourage companies that are not meeting minimum legal requirements to change their ways. As the OFT has the power to publicly require sales processes to be changed and can impose fines on companies which fail to comply, businesses are advised to ensure their systems meet these detailed requirements.

The consultation period on a Treasury green paper announced in February 2003 in Great Britain highlighting possibilities of information technology-related (IT) problems such as computer bugs or viruses incapacitating stock exchange or other systems has closed. Organizations Financial System and Major Operational Disruption Green Paper discussed contingency plans for IT-related problems. The green paper also suggested powers to suspend certain financial obligations.

The article discusses the increase in efficiency and reduction in cost resulting from the use of new technology by public sector staff in Great Britain. Public sector information technology (IT) has been transformed over the past decade as the government has poured billions of pounds into e-government. Public sector organisations have been able to invest in cutting-edge technology such as content management, customer relationship management, Internet protocol networks and the latest hardware. Some organisations are seeing efficiencies from centralising their datacentres on blade servers and other newer hardware systems. Service-oriented architecture helps make business process more efficient and saves IT costs because it reuses code. Citizen and staff self-service portals are also popular in the public sector.

The article reports that the British Conservative Party's Green Paper on national security demonstrates a growing understanding between politicians and businesses of the importance of cyber security issues. The Green Paper, called "A Resilient Nation", details the Conservatives' plans to set up a new cyber threat and assessment centre, review key national databases and critical infrastructure systems, and scrap the national identity card system, as part of an overall national security strategy.

The article reports on papers obtained from British prime minister's office, that reveal how the National Health Service's National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT) was launched with a timeline driven by a desire for quick results. John Pattison, director of research, analysis and information at the Department of Health's headquarters, was put under pressure to act quickly after he joined prime minister Tony Blair, cabinet ministers, policy advisers and IT suppliers in a meeting on February 18, 2002. After the meeting, he was asked to produce an implementation plan for what became the NPfIT. Only a month later the NPfIT was formally announced.

The article reports that the government of Great Britain is exploiting a feature in the Freedom of Information Act which allows it put off indefinitely the release of internal reports on the identity (ID) cards scheme and the National Health Service (NHS) IT program. A High Court case over whether the independent assessments, known as Gateway reviews, on ID cards should be published, is unlikely to take place until June 2008. Whitehall officials have gained the approval of ministers to take a similar route on the troubled NHS National Program for IT. Until any final decision is taken, which is likely to be 2009 or 2010, the Cabinet Office is entitled to keep the Downing Street papers secret.

The article reports that a combination of mobile hardware from Psion Teklogix Ltd. and software from Blackbay at Whitbread Food Logistics PLC have made the delivery process faster, more efficient and paper-free. Over the course of the day's shift, drivers for the company deliver food stocks to 1,400 Whitbread outlets across Great Britain. Instead of pen and paper, drivers use a Psion Teklogix Workabout Pro. At every stage, the information captured on the system is sent in real-time via GPRS over the Vodafone mobile application servers located at Canary Wharf.

This article reports that Connecting for Health, an agency of the British Department of Health, last week launched an England-wide marketing campaign to spread the word about some of the key benefits of the National Programme for information technology (NPfIT). DVDs, videos, 1.3 million booklets and A3-sized posters will market the benefits to health service staff of the National Health Service (NHS)'s Care Records Service, a scheme to give 50 million patients an electronic health record that can be accessed by any authorised NHS employee across the country. A study released earlier this month by the British Computer Society's Health Informatics Forum, shows that support remains strong for the aims of the NPfIT. It also indicates that NHS IT specialists and IT-literate clinicians still have a generally favourable view of the NPfIT. The draft consultation paper issued by the British Computer Society's Health Informatics Forum, on which comments are invited from anyone before the final position paper is prepared, was written in part to provide constructive criticism on the NPfIT. INSET: NHS National Programme for IT - the pain and the gain.

The article focuses on the national programme for IT in the NHS (NPfIT) in Great Britain, which was launched three years back with the publication of a strategy document "21st Century IT." It was warned at the time that it was an extraordinarily ambitious programme given that the British Department of Health had failed to implement successfully much smaller, national technology-based schemes. Now an authoritative paper, published by the British Medical Journal last week on the NPfIT, has raised some structural concerns about the project. One of their most important suggestions is that Connecting for Health, which runs the NPfIT, improves communication by listening as well as talking. Many trusts and GP practices are taking part in implementations of national systems and those running the scheme should be congratulated for helping to ensure that it is perceived by NHS boards of directors as an important initiative. With more than 6bn pound of taxpayers' money invested in the national programme, Connecting for Health needs all the credibility it can muster.

The need for a radical reform of the way Great Britain government manages information technology (IT) projects was underlined by a report published last week by the National Audit Office. The report highlights a series of defects in the management, planning, preparation and implementation of an IT system for the Criminal Records Bureau. Stakeholders issued warnings that assumptions underpinning the project were wrong, but told the National Audit Office their warnings had been ignored. They had questioned the proposed use of a call centre and argued that customers would prefer to apply for background checks by paper rather than phone.

The article explores that the global tech skills shortage brought about by the huge pace of technological change. Topics discussed include combination of technical knowledge and the necessary soft skills to enable relationship-building and effective communications, particularly with customers; direct debit services to businesses, has seen the number of potential candidates from the European Union (EU); and coding using various programming languages, secure DevOps, penetration testing.

The article reports that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is calling on police forces to slow down and properly justify their use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology. Topics discussed include government introduce a statutory and binding code of practice on its deployment; absence of a statutory code of practice and national guidelines contributes to inconsistent practice; and increases the risk of compliance failures, and undermines confidence in the use of the technology.

The article reports on the GS1 UK and trade magazine "Nursing Standard" study showing that nurses in Great Britain spend about 26 days a year searching for missing equipment and paper-based records, wasting 1 billion pounds in wage costs. It says that staff are calling for technology to help them do their jobs properly and make their day-to-day lives easier. It notes that most wanted technologies include real-time view of stock levels, and electronic records to track the location of equipment.

The article reports on the energy white paper of the federal government that will put pressure to datacenter owners operating in Great Britain. The white paper, which aims to cut carbon emissions, sets out a mandatory "cap and trade" regime that requires companies to purchase energy allowances if they use more than 3,000 megawatt hours of electricity. According to Charlotte Eddington, power specialist and senior surveyor at CBRE, the proposal would certainly put datacenter within the scheme because they use large amounts of electricity. Thus, it would give them pressure to improve the energy efficiency of their facilities.

The author reflects on the issues concerning burgeoning data storage demand in Great Britain. He states the examination made by Arif Mohamed on contradictions of laws such as the Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act, and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to retain paper receipts while under pressure to digitize paper records. He believes that cutting the legal complexities would be better option for a long-term business.

The article presents information related to the British National Health Service's National Programme for IT (NPfIT). The programme could improve the treatment of patients and it is believed that NPfIT will replace paper medical records with an electronic file which can be accessed by hospital doctors across England. The article also highlights some cases of NPfIT from Newham Primary Care Trust in East London, England and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre at Oxford, England in which IT-related problems caused potential damage to the care of patients.

The article reports that delays to Great Britain National Health Service's (NHS') £6.2 billion National Programme for IT (NPfIT) are creating financial planning difficulties in local NHS trusts. Board papers from West Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority in England reveal how delays to the hospital systems supplied by the programme are making financial planning "extremely uncertain." They specify an allocation for the authority of £6.8 million from Connecting for Health (CfH), which runs the programme. However, delays to the NPfIT mean this funding will need to be stretched over at least one extra year. It was unlikely Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust would receive suitable systems before the end of 2008, according to board papers. CfH products, including online appointment booking and electronic health records, are central to the push to improve choice and productivity in the NHS. Because of high staff turnover and change within NHS organizations, some money on training and raising awareness would have to be spent twice because of programme delays.

The article reports that Great Britain's government departments could face a mandatory levy to pay for key common good projects within the government's new information technology (IT) strategy, if the recommendations of the Cabinet Office's Strategy Project Team are adopted. The report was produced for the CIO Council and the Service Transformation Board, which will be set up as part of the government IT strategy announced two weeks ago. The research paper calls for a common infrastructure, where government services converge around the citizen and organisations adopt commercial off-the-shelf technology solutions. To facilitate the reforms the paper wants government to form a user-led Common Infrastructure Board which should be supported from the Cabinet Office and financed through user investment. It should set out a roadmap and timetable for the delivery of common infrastructure.

Government asks IT chiefs to suggest training priorities for Great Britain workers. IT professionals have been offered a unique opportunity to influence the government's approach to training and qualifications, following the publication of a skills white paper, industry leaders said this week. The government has promised additional funding for training workers in technical skills to the equivalent of two A-levels and a role for businesses in developing qualifications.

Reports on the refusal of the Great Britain financial market to accept the legislation to tackle the effect of electronic attack on the market. Production of a green paper by the Treasury Department to introduce the information technology problems; Availability of safeguards against threat to the infrastructure of the market.