Informing Healthcare was set up by the Welsh Assembly Government in December 2003 to improve healthcare services for people in Wales by introducing modern ways of sharing and using information. It is one of the key enablers for 'Designed For Life'; the national ten year strategy to deliver better health and social care for Wales. The central aim of the Informing Healthcare programme is to create a 'world class' technical infrastructure for NHS Wales that will allow information to be shared securely irrespective of organisational boundaries. It will also provide a consistent set of information and technology services for all organisations in NHS Wales. Key principles of the programme are based on: A national co-ordinated approach Incremental change Best use of existing infrastructure and systems A balance between immediate improvement and investment in future improvements. Consideration is also given to local priorities, whilst migrating to national designs and solutions. Delivery of a single electronic health record for Welsh citizens, improvements to health information systems and development of health informatics staff are primary goals. Informing Healthcare is based in Pencoed, Wales with North Wales offices in St Asaph. Dr Gwyn Thomas is Informing Healthcare’s Chief Executive Officer. As part of the reorganisation of NHS Wales, Informing Healthcare has merged with Health Solutions Wales, Business Services Wales and the Primary Care Informatics Programme to create the NHS Wales Informatics Service (NWIS). The new organisation was formed in April 2010. Single Record The vision is for information about individual patients to be available securely where and when it is needed through the Single Electronic Health Record. A significant cause of current information problems is the lack of an immediately available, accurate patient record, accessible to those who require the information whether care takes place during the day, the evening or at the weekend. Patient records are held by many professionals in many settings, for example within hospital departments or pathology labs, either on paper or electronically. While general practitioners (GPs) hold the most complete record, this information is currently held within the GP practice and is not shared. This approach to record keeping means the whole picture of a patient’s care is fragmented. The Single Electronic Record is designed to overcome these problems. It does not mean that all information will be held in one place, but provides a view of the patient’s health record derived from many sources. It means that health