"Fears over NHS e-records system"

The Health Committee said there was a "worrying lack of progress" and raised concerns about the security of patients' electronic records.

But the MPs also said the system - an online database of 50 million medical records to be accessed across the NHS - had huge potential to improve care.

There can be little doubt that the database has huge potential and improving care might well be one of the benefits but simply stating stuff like this doesn't make it happen. Nor, of course, does blindly pouring cash into poorly specified and ill-conceived projects which are badly managed. Governments of all hues have proved singularly unsuccessful when it comes to implementing big IT systems yet they keep on trying. Biometric ID cards are reliant on a database similar to the one they are trying to build here but with far more trying and robust external connections; terminals at all border crossings, police stations and countless other places will need to be able to access records for everyone in the country - anyone any idea of the potential costs? And who will be footing the bill?

Read what the BBC think.