The National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in an initiative in the British National Health Service to connect England's 30,000 GPs to 300 hospitals, allowing access to all patient records by health professionals and patients. It is said to be the world's biggest civil information technology program [1]  (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=QBZYPA5JYQ1QJQFIQMGSM5OAVCBQWJVC?xml=/news/2004/08/31/nhs31.xml). The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly-funded healthcare system of the United Kingdom. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion... A general practitioner (GP) or family physician (FP) is a physician who provides primary care. ...

The programme has been criticised for its lack of security. In an interview in The Times newspaper of August 16, 2004 [2] (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1218615_1,00.html), the government's own Information Commissioner expressed concern over this and other national IT projects, indicating that there was a danger of the country "sleepwalking" into a surveillance society. The masthead of The Times The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom. ... August 16 is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) in the United Kingdom, is an independent government authority and reports directly to Parliament. ... IT or It or it may mean: As an abbreviation usually capitalized Information technology IT was a codename used during the hype promoting the Segway scooter. ... Mass surveillance is the surveillance of all or a substantial fraction of the entire population. ...

NPfIT has so far won two Big Brother Awards from the campaigning organisation Privacy International: The Big Brother Awards recognize the government and private sector organizations. ... Privacy International (PI) is one of the worlds oldest privacy organisations, and has been instrumental in establishing the modern international privacy movement. ...

2000 - "Most Heinous Government Organisation", due to the lack of security and lack of protection to patient privacy.

2004 - "Most Appalling Project", for the continuation of the plans without adequately addressing the earlier concerns.

A January 2005 survey among doctors [3] (http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2414) indicates that support for the initiative as an 'important NHS priority' has dropped to 41%, from 70% the previous year. clinician engagement has not been addressed as one might think. For such a large project one might expect that the users would be included from early on. 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This page covers security in the sense of protection from hostile action. ... Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to stop information about themselves from becoming known to people other than those they choose to give the information to. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ...

Originally expected to cost £2.3 billion pounds over three years, November 2004 Government estimates put the cost of the programme at between 20 and 30 billion pounds, although it is expected that this will be recovered in "savings and other benefits" [4] (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/12/nnhs12.xml). The pound sterling, which strictly speaking refers to basic currency unit of sterling, now the pound, can generally refer to the currency of the United Kingdom (UK). ...

From April 1 2005, the Programme will be renamed NHS Connecting for Health, as it absorbs both staff and workstreams from the abolished NHS Information Authority, the organisation it replaces. April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... The NHS Information Authority (NHSIA) was established by an an Act of Parliament in 1999. ...

The NHS in Wales is also running a national program for service improvement and development via the use of Information Technology - this project is called Informing Healthcare National motto: Cymru am byth (Welsh: Wales for ever) Waless location within the UK Official languages English(100%), Welsh(20. ... Informing Healthcare is a key part of the Welsh Assembly Government strategy to corporately and collectively modernise health services in Wales over the next ten years. ...

See also

• National Identity Register
• Citizen Information Project
• Universal Child Database
• UK topics

• Medical privacy

After many years of discussion through successive governments, in 2003 Home Secretary David Blunkett announced that the government intends to introduce a British national identity card linked to a national identity database, the National Identity Register. ... In the United Kingdom, the Citizen Information Project (CIP) is a plan by the Office for National Statistics to build a national population register. ... In the United Kingdom, the Government plans to construct a Universal Child Database under the provisions of the Children Act 2004. ... Shortcut: UK topics This is a list of topics related to the United Kingdom. ... The main subject of medical privacy is the medical record which historically has been a paper file of the entire medical history of the patient. ...

External links

• NHS NPfIT site (http://www.npfit.nhs.uk/)
• Times Online: Patient records go on database (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2710-751992,00.html)
• Computer loophole hits hi-tech NHS trial (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1358226,00.html)