NHSnet fails to win GPs' confidence

Only one third of GPs have signed up for NHSnet, the private data network for the National Health Service, and only half of those have used it in the last month, according to new research.

Steve Ranger, Computing, Computing 18 Feb 2000

Only one third of GPs have signed up for NHSnet, the private data network for the National Health Service, and only half of those have used it in the last month, according to new research.

Since its inception in 1992, NHSnet has been dogged by controversy. The service, launched in 1996, was intended to provide secure email connections between hospitals and doctors' surgeries.

But concerns over performance and security last year prompted the British Medical Association (BMA) to warn doctors against adopting the system, and the Government was forced to cancel its target of connecting all GPs by the end of 1999.

High costs and a lack of IT literacy among hospital staff have proved to be stumbling blocks. Many GPs have not signed up for NHSnet because there is no-one to communicate with at hospitals.

Other problems include a perceived lack of security and reliability, according to research commissioned by medical IT provider MediDesk. Some 70 doctors were polled by Research Quorum.

The BMA is still recommending that GPs do not sign up, said Paul Cundy, chairman of the BMA's technology committee.

Last month, the NHS announced that it will pay for the ISDN connections needed for GPs to connect to the services, and Cundy said this will boost usage of the network enormously.

Negotiations are underway on how doctors will be compensated for both ISDN installation and running costs.

Another problem is that the network was based on the X400 legacy protocol, which requires users to handle a complex and unwieldy addressing system.

The survey paints an accurate picture of what is happening in primary care, said Paul Bromley, a GP and IT partner in a practice in Readesmoor.

He dismissed the NHSnet by saying: "If you put garbage in, you get garbage out."

Bromley said that in his health authority of 94 practices, only 16 have connected. The others, apart from five, have given assurances they will join, however.

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