Frances Fitzgerald
Ceist:163 Ms. F. Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Health the current status and the future plans, if any, regarding information technology in hospitals.
Written Answers. - Hospital Information Technology.
The Department of Health provides capital grants for the implementation of modern information technology systems in the health services (including hospitals, health boards and other health agencies). The level of provision this year is £6 million. Under health service IT policy, individual agencies are actively involved in prioritising their IT requirements and in the selection of appropriate solutions. This policy framework has resulted in a very notable increase in the application of IT throughout the whole health service over recent years. Major IT initiatives have been supported in a number of agencies including, Beaumont Hospital, St. James's Hospital, the mater Miseracordiae Hospital and the North-Western Health Board. In addition, support has been given to practically all major health agencies to assist them in pursuing their IT related initiatives. It is intended, within the resources available, to continue the programme in order to ensure that health agencies can avail of the full range of benefits offered by developments in information technology.