§ 19. Mr. JackTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether further progress will be made with the resource management initiative in the coming financial year.
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§ Mr. FreemanThe National Health Service Management Executive has been discussing with the National Health Service details of the programme for the coming financial year for which the Government have made available an additional £78 million. Fifty more hospitals in England have been chosen to prepare and implement the main resource management programme in 1990–91. Since my announcement last March about the extension of the programme a total of 100 hospitals have been selected to implement the main resource management process. We are proceeding at a pace that the service can sustain in setting up project management teams and purchasing computer equipment. This is backed-up with guidance from the Management Executive on the best way to proceed.