✦ LIBER ✦

We haven't got a GIS. It isn't a problem for us; why is it a problem for you?

✍ Scribed by G. Higgs

Publisher: Elsevier Science
Year: 2004
Tongue: English
Weight: 78 KB
Volume: 28
Category: Article
ISSN: 0198-9715
DOI: 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2003.09.003

No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.

✦ Synopsis

We haven't got a GIS. It isn't a problem for us;

why is it a problem for you?

The above quote is extracted from a response to a recent questionnaire survey in which we were concerned with examining the current state of play regarding the take-up of GIS in the National Health Service in the UK. This research, funded by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council, involved a survey of Information Officers/Managers in primary and secondary health care organisations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and follow-up interviews with a subset of key personnel with an interest in the use of GIS. In part it was devised as a response to concerns that GIS is being under-utilised in the NHS and that no specific mention is made of the potential role of GIS in the overall IT framework strategies being promoted by its various administrative divisions throughout the UK. This seemed paradoxical at a time when there are more and more books being published on the role of GIS in health applications, conferences are being given over to the use of GIS in a variety of health related projects, software houses are developing add-ons to their generic packages tailored to the health sector and GIS related papers are appearing in a range of mainstream health journals. Assuming the results from the surveys conducted to date are generalisable then one explanation could be that academics have over-stated the use of such technology whilst neglecting its application in professional contexts and ignoring the types of technical and organisational barriers influencing take-up in health organisations. Our project aimed to address these questions through survey and survey analysis and then, more ambitiously, to use the results to develop policy recommendations.

The principal results have been published elsewhere (Smith et al., 2003) and so are not described in any detail here. Suffice to say, the majority of surveyed health organisations in the UK had access to GIS and the use of GIS in producing maps in particular formed a mainstream activity within most of them. The survey also highlighted innovative uses of GIS in strategic contexts, drew attention to the use of GIS in emergency planning or in monitoring morbidity patterns using more analytical functions. Important barriers, both technical and organisational, were identified and the levels of joined up working in relation to GIS collaboration were objectively assessed. In addition, information managers were prompted through open-ended questions to summarise the role of GIS within their organisations. At this point, it became clear that some of the officers were very enthusiastic and optimistic but expressed frustration at the lack of senior level support or at other Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 28 (2004) 285-288

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