Public and private organizations are investing increasing amounts into the development of
healthcare information technology. These applications are perceived to offer numerous benefits.
Software systems can improve the exchange of information between healthcare facilities. They
support standardised procedures that can help to increase consistency between different service
providers. Electronic patient records ensure minimum standards across the trajectory of care when
patients move between different specializations. Healthcare information systems also offer economic
benefits through efficiency savings; for example by providing the data that helps to identify potential
bottlenecks in the provision and administration of care. However, a number of high-profile failures
reveal the problems that arise when staff must cope with the loss of these applications. In particular,
teams have to retrieve paper based records that often lack the detail on electronic systems.
Individuals who have only used electronic information systems face particular problems in learning
how to apply paper-based fallbacks. The following pages compare two different failures of
Healthcare Information Systems in the UK and North America. The intention is to ensure that future
initiatives to extend the integration of electronic patient records will build on the ‘lessons learned’
from previous systems
