A joint investigation by The BMJ and Cambridge and Bath universities uncovers how NHS England tried to limit access to expensive new drugs for hepatitis C. Jonathan Gornall, Amanda Hoey, and Piotr Ozieranski report

Since the first wave of computerisation in the 1970's the implementation of information technology (IT) within policing has been chequered and often met with resistance. It was not until the early 1990's that IT in policing became a political issue of national importance within the UK. This culminated in September 1994 with the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers issuing a National Strategy for Police Information Systems (NSPIS) for England and Wales. The development of an IT strategy must be viewed in the context of increasing expectations and pressure for reform within the police service as a whole and is set against a background of reports and studies aimed at enabling the police service to meet its aims more effectively. The business environment in which police forces operate is changing; increased demands for efficiency has led to IT being recognized as a valuable and innovative addition to policing. In recent years many technological developments have taken place initiated by local police forces themselves and by government both in the UK and the US. This article explores how technology can support the routine core functions of policing, the issues surrounding the use of the technology and finally draws some conclusions about the implications of the technology on the nature of policing.Information technology has become pervasive throughout society and, TECHNO-COPS: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT 70 2 In the early 1970's the Home Office's Police Scientific Development Branch began developing command and control applications for police use. These applications consisted of Computer Aided dispatch (CAD systems which were designed to enable patrol cars to be dispatched more quickly to a scene once a radio call for assistance was received. The computer system provided information on the availability and location of patrols and once a patrol was dispatched details were recorded. Thus the system maintained a record of tasked resources for audit and the types and numbers of calls received. 3 Ackroyd, Harper, Hughes, Shapiro & Soothill, New Technology and Practical Police Work (Open University Press: Buckingham 1992) at 71.indeed, has transformed much of the way we go about our work, whether it be in industry, education or the legal system. This article explores how information technology has impacted on a particular aspect of the legal system, namely that of policing and law enforcement. The article illustrates how police forces throughout the UK and US have put information technology (IT) to use and explores the extent of the role of IT within policing. Information technology is used in this context to describe the 'computerisation' of tasks which otherwise would have been conducted manually within the police service. Enhanced effectiveness and efficiency are generally accepted as the rationale for introducing technical change within any organisation, the police being no exception. Since the early 1970's the concept of 'computerized policing' has been evolving in line with technolo...

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The European police terrain comprises a jigsaw of different police forces, judicial systems and information networks. Throughout Europe police need information in order to do their job. Police detect very little crime themselves but rely heavily on information from the public about the commission of crimes. Also, in order to plan operations, surveillance or identify likely suspects in a criminal investigation they will need information such as geographic details, physical descriptions and the like. Technology can be used to enhance the operational effectiveness of police forces by rstly, allowing vast amounts of information to be stored in readily accessible form, secondly, enabling the police to deploy resources ef ciently and nally, by aiding police forces in large scale preservation of law and order. This article explores the extent to which the European policing environm ent is being altered and contends that, as a result of demands for increasingly sophisticated information and communication links, the pace of technological development will have a direct impact on the nature of policing in the 'New Europe'.

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