IT medical records target 'unachievable'

A project to create electronic medical records for 50 million patients in England is “unachievable” and will be at least four years late.

The Department of Health has promised that the National Programme for IT — thought to be the largest non-military computer project in the world — will create a centralised database of medical records by 2010. But the latest progress report by the National Audit Office says that the £12.7 billion project is proving to be “extremely challenging”, with the online Care Records Service not expected before 2014-15.

The spending watchdog points to “serious delays” in installing new software in hospitals and concludes that the Government has significantly underestimated the challenges involved.

Body found in search for make-up artist

Detectives investigating the disappearance of Diane Chenery-Wickens, 48, an award-winning BBC TV make-up artist, have found a body in woodland. Her husband, David Chenery-Wickens, 51, from Duddleswell, East Sussex, has been rearrested, after previously being held by police on suspicion of her murder.

The body was found by a woman walking her dog at Little Horsted, about 8 miles (13km) from Mrs Chenery-Wickens’s home.

Bakery case remand

A teenager charged with the murder of Jimmy Mizen in a bakery last weekend at Lee, southeast London, was remanded in custody yesterday at Sutton Magistrates' Court.

Jake Fahri, 19, will appear at the Old Bailey in August.

Brown on abortion

Gordon Brown will vote against an attempt to lower the 24-week time limit on abortions because it is not backed by scientific evidence, he said. The Commons will have a free vote on the issue next week when anti-abortion MPs push amendments to embryology legislation to cut it to 20 weeks or less.

‘Hijacker at BA’

A man, 34, who was granted asylum after hijacking a plane over Afghanistan to Stansted has been working as a cleaner at a BA office near Heathrow. Nazamuddin Mohammidy was stopped on suspicion of driving an unlicensed mini-cab and arrested for allegedly breaching bail over an assault charge.

Just looking

A man found guilty of voyeurism had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in London after claiming that the law did not apply to viewing male chests. Kevin Bassett, 44, of Spalding, Lincolnshire, had been convicted of breaching the Sexual Offences Act after allegedly filming a man at a swimming pool.

Child's tooth found

Police investigating child abuse at the former Haut de la Garenne children's home in Jersey found a sixth tooth, which belonged to a child, in an underground chamber. Bone fragments were found, but it was not known if they were human.

Abuse coach jailed

An Olympic medal-winning diver was jailed at Bournemough Crown Court for nine years for sexually abusing three girls from 1976 to 1986. Brian Phelps, 64, who won bronze at the 1960 Games, assaulted the girls, aged as young as 6, while coaching them in gymnastics in Poole, Dorset. He admitted 42 charges.

Blast blamed on gas

An explosion that destroyed three homes and killed a man in Harrow, northwest London, last week may have been caused by a leak from a disused gas meter, police said. Emad Qureshi, 26, a Pakistani businessman, was killed by falling debris

Train fall father dies

A father died trying to retrieve presents for his wife and young son that he had left behind on a train. David Davies, 38, an advertising account manager, was killed after he slipped and fell under the train as he clung to the outside of a carriage as it pulled out of Barnehurst station in Kent on Friday.

Porsche hijacked

Detectives were hunting two men who drove a woman off the road, punched her in the face and stole her Porsche. She stopped on the A355 in Slough, Berkshire, when a silver Audi hit her car on Wednesday night. She suffered a black eye.

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