ICT implementation in the health-care sector: effective stakeholders’ engagement as the main precondition of change sustainability

Abstract

As modern information and communication technologies (ICT) now offer new possibilities for improving almost every aspect of health care, their implementation is a very relevant and fast accelerating process around Europe and internationally. The processes themselves vary greatly from scattered single initiatives of various IT solutions to large national programmes. Often treated as purely technical in nature, ICT implementation in health care should gravitate towards the “softer/complex” i.e. people-related issues end of the change. The approach taken by the Informing Healthcare programme in Wales broadens understanding on the value that engagement of stakeholders can bring to the process.