A TECHNOLOGICAL revolution is set to transform health services in Darlington as part of a £250,000 investment programme.

Darlington Primary Care Trust has just taken delivery of the first pieces of equipment, designed to help to bring the NHS into the twenty first century.

Over the next three months, more than 200 computers will be installed in doctors' practices and primary care venues in the borough, replacing old machines that cannot meet modern demands.

Surgeries and clinics will be supplied with new monitors and CD rewriters.

The computers will also feature smart card readers with digital recognition software, which prevents anyone except the operator from logging on to the computer and accessing confidential medical records. File servers will also be replaced or upgraded to increase speed and capacity.

Laser printers will be installed to help to crack down on prescription fraud, which costs the NHS millions of pounds a year.

The move marks the beginning of a ten year plan to modernise information technology in the NHS.

By 2010, the Government wants every person in the country to have an individual electronic record, allowing clinicians to access medical histories wherever the patient is taken ill or injured.

The system will eventually allow doctors to make appointments online for surgical procedures and specialist consultations.

After a patient leaves hospital GPs will be able to receive electronic discharge summaries containing a record of the care the patient received and possible follow-up procedures.

Prescriptions will also be able to be ordered online with the request going directly to the pharmacy.

The trust's director of planning, Paul Steward, said: "This is the first phase to update and replace some of the antiquated IT equipment in the area. Much of the existing hardware hasn't got the processing speed to carry out modern functions.

"We need to ensure that all IT equipment in future meets a national minimum standard and, over the coming months, we will be looking to standardise software used in the local health economy.

"Improvements in IT will bring real benefits to patient services as the national programme is implemented locally."