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The state is good at regulating , unfortunately its hopeless at self-regulation and should never be trusted in that role as our politicians actions routinely remind us.

Expenses anyone?

As for those who are more wary of extending the role of private enterprise in the delivery of public services and ever fearful of empowering private corporations to take control of our data - read people work for the NHS in this case - lets get real here, Google isnt the only private firm out there offering expert indexing , search and data management and storage services on the scale required here . Of course it isnt but unlike Microsoft , say, Google has an established track record of working responsibly and responsively to Government regulation and - very important here - openly embraces a refreshing take on democracy. Its not perfect but at least the concept gets a look in!

Google's established business model allows customers/end users to own their own data and export it for use with rival services/apps and while I think it makes sense for people to wonder where Google is going with its Chrome OS before handing national data management contracts to the firm ( i.e. will Google have the same attitude to rival platforms as apps ?) I think on balance we can safely assume that Google's long term strategy with its Chrome products is to 'bake ' in choice at entry level through open source if need be to ensure the Mountain View firm retains its competitive edge as Google's real comparative advantage is the sheer human brain power ( not simply machine number crunching capacity ) back at the Googleplex it can bring to real world puzzle/problem solving for itself and others .

So we need to get over arguments over efficency and security ref national IT systems as Government has already lost them, the fact is Google wouldnt just manage NHS data better it would also very quickly have the best minds and most cutting edge analytical tools on the planet sifting through our data for better ways to understand and predict healthcare issues and outcomes to save human lives.

So, I think I can safely say that Lewisham PCT is not doing this and that there is a terrible opportunity cost , locally , nationally and globally , to our continuing to bankroll utter incompetence in the public sector just because stifling bureaucracy gives our political masters a greater delusional sense of personal heroism and being in control .