The information needs of district general managers in the English National Health Service

摘要

The National Health Service in England is an information intensive organization and yet has made very little systematic or coherent use of information for management purposes. Since 1980 considerable resources have been devoted to developing information systems. The introduction of general management, with its associated need for more efficient and effective use of resources has intensified the effort being placed on the search for information systems. General managers are having to undertake fundamental reviews of their work and activities to identify their information needs. This paper outlines the growing pressures upon managers to specify their information requirements, and suggests some reasons why managers in the National Health Service are finding the task difficult.