The new chairman of the NHS Confederation's primary care trust provider forum, Matthew Winn, has announced his arrival with a plea for better IT systems in the sector.

Mr Winn, who is chief operating officer of Cambridgeshire Community Services, demanded that the quality of IT for PCT provider arms should be improved.

Lagging behind

He said: "We welcome the renewed policy attention these services are now getting, but it is long overdue which means community services lag behind much of the rest of the NHS in terms of IT investment, informatics and quality measures.

"On IT, [the priority is] really making a sharper focus and priority for community systems.

"In the national programme for IT we're way down the pecking order."

Mr Winn said all community providers currently "struggled" with IT systems for running home visiting services and clinic based services.

Unresolved issues

But he said the Department of Health was "doing all the right things" by using its transforming community services programme to drive reform in the sector.

He added there were still "unresolved issues" in relation to the governance of PCT provider arms, where they remained within PCTs.

The DH and the Appointments Commission are expected to produce further guidance on this.

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