The prime minister has declared his faith in the NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT).

Tony Blair stated his support in response to a parliamentary question from Conservative MP Richard Bacon.

He took the opportunity to repeat the National Audit Office's approval of its progress and "tight control", and that it is planned to connect more than 30,000 GPs in England to over 300 hospitals.

Bacon followed up by asking for an assurance that suppliers who fail to deliver on the contracts would not be paid, citing the case of iSoft. The company is one of the biggest suppliers to the programme and has recently reduced its profits forecast due to factors related to NPfIT.

Blair said he was not aware of the example, but took the chance to express his faith in the programme.

"In the end, one of the huge benefits of having a National Health Service is that we can have electronic patient records that are transferable right around the system," he said. "If that happens, it means not just an end to vast amounts of paperwork in the NHS, but that things such as patient choice, for example, can become a reality."

This article was originally published at Kablenet.

Kablenet's GC weekly is a free email newsletter covering the latest news and analysis of public sector technology. To register click here.

Related stories

• BMA kicks off patient awareness campaign (16 November 2006)
• iSoft hit with another investigation (25 October 2006)
• Accenture heads for NHS exit (28 September 2006)
• DTI keeps eye on iSoft (18 September 2006)
• MPs condemn NHS IT (8 September 2006)
• NHS provider looking critical (24 August 2006)
• Review criticises software for NPfIT (22 August 2006)
• NAO rebuts BBC claims on NHS IT (19 August 2006)
• MP says NHS IT should be flushed (8 August 2006)
• Crash! Power spike takes out NHS servers (2 August 2006)
• Doctors attack NHS IT system (19 July 2006)
• iSoft delays results again (10 July 2006)
• Bexley NHS searches for lost data (7 July 2006)
• Exclusive NHS farce leads to lost data (4 July 2006)
• NHS IT charade re-played (28 June 2006)
• Transparency a problem for NHS IT (20 June 2006)
• Mealy-mouthed NAO pampers NHS IT (16 June 2006)
• NHS IT cost doubled to £12.4bn (16 June 2006)
• Letter of the Week NPfIT letter raises more reader hackles (14 June 2006)
• Letter NpfIT responds to Reg criticism (12 June 2006)
• BBC survey damns NHS IT system (1 June 2006)
• Pressure mounts on NHS IT (30 May 2006)
• LibDems attack NHS IT programme (19 May 2006)
• iSoft suffers NHS fever (2 May 2006)
• Senior figures call for NHS IT audit (11 April 2006)
• NHS modernisation: 'Too much, too fast' (3 April 2006)
• Cost and confidentiality concerns undermine NHS IT plan (11 January 2006)
• NHS's £6bn IT project in trouble, leaked email reveals (14 November 2005)
• NPfIT still failing to engage doctors (5 August 2005)