§ Mrs. MahonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the latest assessment of the cost of the National Health Service computerisation programme; and if he will give an estimate of the extra staff needed to run the system.
§ Mr. FreemanIn general, the responsibility for deciding how much to spend and how many staff to employ on hospitall computer systems rests with NHS managers. However, hospitals receiving computer based information systems as part of the hospital information and support systems and resource management programmes in 1989–90 will have a substantial part of the cost of those systems met centrally.