Under the scheme family doctors will have the option of using systems provided by either their local service provider or from an approved set of existing GP system providers. Eligible systems will be funded centrally by the Department of Health.
Systems will be offered to GPs provided they meet certain standards. The minister said that the standards would become increasingly stringent to ensure they could properly network with new NHS systems.
Lord Warner commented, GPs and Primary Care Trusts have made significant investment in their current IT systems over recent years, as they implement new services such as the Electronic Prescription Service and Choose and Book. Our new initiative will encourage GPs to either choose to upgrade their current clinical system, or migrate to an LSP provided system in order to continue on the path to integration with the NHS Care Records Service.
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