Auditor General John Doyle reveals that the B. C. Liberal drive for electronic records-keeping in the health care system is behind schedule, over budget, poorly planned, and stills a long way from realizing any advantages to patients.

The report reflects a sense of astonishment throwing light at the inadequacies of the planning process and lack of follow-through.

A report released by Doyle Wednesday chronicled a list of failings so comprehensive that it propelled doubts about whether the Electronic Health Records project could be managed in any proper sense.

It is revealed that there were considerable problems with the Liberal plan to establish a single, province-wide system to permit authorized health care providers to access a patient's complete medical records wherever the individual seeks medical attention.

Doyle posted, "We expected the ministry to develop and follow a good tactical plan from the start; one that laid out how it intended to achieve the strategic goals of an integrated, compatible provincial electronic health records system".

However, the Auditor-General remained firm on the fact that the project possessed potential benefits for patients and medical professionals alike.