Hospital information management: the need for clinical leadership

On 12 July the Audit Commission published For Your Information, a well researched report about information and its management in acute hospitals in Britain, how and why it is failing, and steps that clinicians, managers, and the NHS should take to correct this. This article discusses why information management matters to clinicians and considers the problems identified by the Audit Commission--most of which will strike chords with doctors--and possible remedies. Finally, it describes possible routes to administer these remedies and the proposal, recently supported by the BMA Council, for a national centre for health informatics with the goals of educating and enthusing clinicians about informatics, empowering them to participate in local and national information management decisions; exploring how information can be used to improve patient care and outcomes; and evaluating clinical information systems and helping to realise their benefits.