§ Lord Jenkin of Rodingasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, if National Health Service patients are to secure the benefits of genetic services as promised by the Secretary of State for Health on 16 January, the National Health Service needs to standardise its systems of maintaining patient records as recommended by the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology in its report, Human Genetic Databases: challenges and opportunities (4th Report, Session 2000–01., HL Paper 57). [HL2675]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathThe Government recognise that a set of national standards covering both the clinical and technical requirements of information communication technology hacked by appropriately targeted resources and performance managed outcomes is required to support systems of maintaining patient records in order to secure the benefits of genetic services. However, as indicated in the Government's response to the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology (Cm 5236, July 2001) a unified information system is not seen as feasible or desirable.Building the Information Core (www.doh.gov.uk/ipu/strategy/updateindex.htm), updates the information strategy for the National Health Service and describes how a more corporate approach will be adopted to implement this recommendation.