Unrealistic expectations plague U.K. IT program

National Health Service workers in the U.K. are disappointed with the suboptimal rollout of the country's national program for information technology, according to a survey published in the August issue of the British Medical Journal.

Respondents to a survey of four hospitals reported a lack of clarity and communication from the national IT program's headquarters regarding future program developments. Unrealistic timelines and uncertain IT implementation schedules resulted in low morale in the NHS staff involved in IT implementation, the report said.

Even the promise of short-term benefits could not persuade NHS staff to embrace the national program enthusiastically, especially if they lost local IT functionality during the transition to a national IT infrastructure.