§ Mr. Paul MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the progress made by(a) health authorities in Shropshire and (b) nationally to develop Electronic Health Records as set out in the report, "Information for Health". [120367]
§ Ms StuartThe information strategy for the Modern NHS 1998–2005 "Information for Health", called for a number of demonstrator sites to be set up to explore the issues associated with the creation of electronic records. The setting up of these sites is a key component of supporting the delivery of electronic health records throughout the National Health Service.
I announced the names of the four Electronic Health Record (EHR) demonstrators on Monday 17 April during my visit to Burton hospitals, South Staffordshire. The 61W sites chosen are Cornwall, South Staffordshire, County Durham and Tees. Work will commence once the deliverables have been agreed with each of the sites, on developing the concept of longitudinal care and 24-hour emergency access to clinical records. The sites will also consider emerging issues such as areas of personal rights to control over medical information (European context) and e-health agenda.
A larger number (up to 12) of Electronic Patient Records (EPR) demonstrators will start working in June on specific areas that have been identified as priorities by their local health community. These will include how information can be shared more effectively among members of the primary health care teams and between different organisations for the benefit of patient care. They will also closely support the concept of how information will actually support the delivery of the local Health Improvement Programme. The names of the successful sites will be announced in the next few weeks.
The demonstrator sites will be subject to national evaluation and will run for two years.
Shropshire local health community has developed a full Local Implementation Strategy for Information for Health. This was submitted to the Regional Office on 31 March 2000 and is currently being evaluated. It sets out a clear vision of the way in which the Shropshire local health community will achieve the targets set out in "Information for Health" in the period between 2000–05. The vision is supported by detailed investment proposals for the organisations involved in the planning and delivery of health and social care services to patients and the public in Shropshire.