§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement in respect of(a) the pilot resource management initiative at the Pilgrim hospital, Boston, (b) the ICL's financial system case mix finance module installed in all departments at the hospital and (c) what results to date have been obtained at the five other pilot sites of the Government's resource management initiative scheme.
§ Mr. FreemanThe RMI seeks improvements in patient care by involving clinicians and other health professionals more closely in the management of their hospitals and supporting this with accurate, timely and credible information from a computerised database which links activity and cost at patient level.
The Pilgrim hospital, Boston, has been a pilot site for the resource management initiative (RMI) since April 1988. Good progress has been made. A number of experiments are under way to determine appropriate management structures for the hospital in line with the objectives of the RMI. Computer systems are being expanded and upgraded and new systems installed where a need can be shown for them.
The ICL case-mix finance reporting module is not installed in the Pilgrim hospital.
As a result of the work done at the pilot sites since the RMI was launched in 1986 we remain convinced that it holds the potential for significantly improving the quality and quantity of health care which the NHS provides.