It will take much longer than forecast for the health service to introduce a nationwide electronic system for keeping patients’ records, the Financieele Dagblad reports today.

The aim of the system is to allow health workers to access a patient’s records from anywhere in the country and cut back on medical errors.
But the paper says IT experts say the 2009 roll-out is too optimistic, that pilot projects are riddled with bugs and too many interest groups are involved in the development chain.
Paul Haberts, deputy chairman of the national GPs’ association, told the paper that politicians were ignoring the reality of the situation. ‘They want to hear that everything is going ok,’ he said.