The 1998 Information for Health strategy introduced the concept of a comprehensive 'cradle to grave' record for every individual which contains details of all contacts made with any aspect of the Health Service. This is called the Electronic Health Record (EHR).

The EHR will provide real-time access, from a desktop PC for GPs, clinicians and other healthcare professionals to details of a patients medical history and information about all contacts that they have had with any other healthcare professionals. Each contact with a healthcare organisation will result in an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) and each EPR will be stored electronically and form part of the EHR. Subject to security restrictions, healthcare professionals will be able to browse all or part of this record from their desktop PC.

For the healthcare professional, this will provide an up to date, comprehensive record of the patients' medical history and the ability to make a more informed decision about the most appropriate way forward. It will remove the need to trawl through manual records which often results in an incomplete picture.