NHS HealthSpace Patient Portal Plans Shelved

E-Health Insider is reporting that the UK Department of Health is shelving plans for development of the HealthSpace patient portal project:

An £80m-plus business case, that was due to be submitted to the Treasury, now appears to have been kicked into the long grass. Most of the team working on HealthSpace has been stood down and released for other work, with just a skeleton crew retained.

Last year’s Health Informatics Review outlined a wide-ranging role for HealthSpace, but the DH has now done a U-turn and demanded more evidence of the site’s value to patients before pushing ahead with further expansion.