MIKE McCURRY    -    EDITOR

Mike is the EHTO Journal Editor and is a member of the Observatory's Consortium Management Board. During the early part of his 20-year career, as a Civil Servant in the Department of Health, London, he gained experience in health services organisation, and emergency planning. However, for the last 12 years, Mike was engaged in healthcare information management, with the NHS Executive's Information Management Group (IMG). As Projects Director, he was involved, principally, with the primary care sector and his contribution to the development of GP and Family Health Service Authority information technology is well known. He was involved in the AIM Concerted action EUROCARDS, and was the UK representative on the Steering Committee and Convenor of the Working Group which examined the administrative uses of smart cards in healthcare. Last October, Mike left the IMG to work on the 4FP supporting project, the European Health Telematics Observatory.

Editoral Outline

The first issue of the Observatory's Journal has been timed to coincide with HC96, a significant occasion in the healthcare informatics calendar. I have attended every HC Conference and Exhibition (a distinction shared by only a few), and understand the importance of the event to healthcare professionals of all disciplines.
The European Commission's Directorate General XIII has chosen HC96 to launch its diffusion programme on Health Telematics by presenting material related to the results from the Third Framework Programme and information about the Fourth Framework projects which are about to commence. This is in recognition of the need to inform healthcare professionals about current developments, as there is clear evidence that the level of awareness about healthcare informatics is not as high as it should be. The substantial, potential benefits are unlikely to be realised because of ignorance

Mike McCurry