A Department of Health spokesperson said: "The report highlights nothing new - we already know that quality healthcare can be delivered through the effective use of IT.

"Patients are now directly benefiting from the modernisation of NHS IT – including being able to make their first outpatient appointment through Choose and Book, new digital images and a new electronic prescriptions service.

"The programme is already being delivered locally. For example, detailed records will continue to be held locally in an electronic form, enabling hospitals and GPs to easily access information in order to deliver the best service for patients.

"The report makes clear that there has been progress in modernising NHS IT. But we are constantly working to deliver and have already made clear to the Local Service Providers involved in the programme that we fully expect further significant progress by the end of November."

Background

The original vision of the National Programme for IT was to improve healthcare by making better information available to clinicians - nothing in the report challenges that vision.

The programme has always had a mixed economy of suppliers and long ago recognised the value of existing systems in supplementing the Local Service Provider offerings.