Hunt Promises £4bn Investment in NHS IT

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced a £4.2bn investment in a paperless NHS.

The figure is significantly higher than the £1bn for new NHS technology announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the autumn spending review.

A full breakdown of where and how the money will be spent is currently being discussed by the Department of Health (DH) and NHS England, however the department expects £1.8bn to be spent on achieving a paperless NHS by 2018 removing outdated technology such as fax machines.

Hunt said: "On the back of a strong economy, and because of our belief in the NHS and its values, we are investing more than £4bn across the health system to ease pressure on the front line and create stronger partnerships between doctor and patient."

In 2015 Hunt announced that within the next financial year a quarter of smartphone users would be able to access NHS services and medical records to book appointments and arrange repeat prescriptions using a range of health apps.

The DH is working with the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft to "ensure that patient-focussed apps are fully supported and patients can access them easily from their mobile devices."

£1bn of the budget is likely to be spent on infrastructure, cyber security and data consent.

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