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Recent demographic trends suggest that demands on healthcare will increase to such an extent that no matter how efficient healthcare professionals are, they will never be able to provide enough care in light of the ageing population and increasing prevalence of chronic ill-health. This gap between the need for care and the size of the workforce could be bridged by the development of Information Technology (IT). While there are many developments in Scotland (and elsewhere), little work has been undertaken at a national level to develop integrated IT systems for this purpose. Careful and appropriate development will be necessary if such an IT infrastructure is to contribute fully to the future of care, but there is no business case for this and no sense of political urgency to develop such an infrastructure despite the understanding that to reach an effective level in ten years we need to start now.