§ Sir R. Thompsonasked the Minister of Health, what studies are in hand on the application of data processing techniques to hospital services; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonThe scope for the use of computers in the hospital service is studied continuously by my Department. The results of a symposium organised jointly with the Medical Research Council last year have been published (H.M.S.O. "Mathematics and Computer Science in Biology and Medicine") and a number of hospitals and medical schools are following up the suggestions for studies. At least 15 studies of the application of computers to statistics, accounting, payroll, new hospital building and medical research projects have been or are being conducted by Hospital Boards, and local information systems related to patients' records are being developed to provide information for management.