Wales - what's their secret? Delivering successful healthcare informatics - care records

We blogged in the past about the fact that Australia, Scotland and Wales had stolen a march on the English in developing data linkage facilities for healthcare research and had heard this blamed on the heterogeneity of our healthcare systems. We now read in eHealth Insider that "Wales is also having success with sharing patient data via its Individual Health Record. More than 300 GP practices have switched on access to the record, which is available to emergency care providers. It includes demographic information, medication, allergies, test and x-ray results, and medical problems from the past two years."


A great comment on the eHealth Insider article compares the modest investment behind the Welsh achievement to that behind the English National Programme for IT with its "modest return".

"It's hard to comprehend that the relatively small sums discussed here have resulted in the extent of progress made so far in Wales; particularly when we consider the largesse associated with the English NPfIT [for] such a modest return."