The UK has a universal health care system. The National Health Service (NHS) is the second largest organization in the world (1.3 million staff), behind the Chinese Army and the Indian Railway, with an annual expenditure of over £90 billion (126billion).Thehealthcaresystemhasmovedfromthecentralizedallocation,oflimitedresources,toprovidingpatientswiththechoiceoffamilydoctor,hospitalandspecialist.In2002,aprojectwasstartedtoprovidethemechanismtoprovidepatientchoice,supportedbythecentralstorageofmedicalrecords.Theprojectisthelargestcivilinformationsystemprojectintheworld(£14.4billion,20 billion) and is running significantly late and over budget. There is not an obvious financial justification for the project. Despite its difficulties the project is still being funded by central government. The paper proposes that the key benefit, of the information system, will be to perpetuate, as well as implement, the present government\u27s health policy