Thanks to a cash boost from health bosses, doctors throughout Oxfordshire will be able to get urgent test results at the touch of a button, writes Andrew Ffrench.

The county's 89 practices are being linked to the Internet and the NHS Intranet by next March.

Oxfordshire Health Authority has been given an extra 282,000 as part of the Government's additional 60m investment for NHS technology announced in June. The GP Connect project will save time for doctors, patients and hospitals, cutting paperwork and lessening the chances of mistakes due to inaccurate or unavailable information.

Project manager Fiona Robertson said: "Thanks to this project, GP practice technology is being brought firmly into the 21st century.

"Many people will notice a real difference when they see their local GP in the coming year, while doctors should find a welcome decrease in paperwork and an all-round better service." Through the computers, GPs will be able to:

* call up test results from hospital labs while seeing the patient

* access patient details that are held in hospitals, to keep track of their patients and receive copies of patient discharge letters

* make an outpatient referral on-line

* check outpatient waiting times for individual consultants

* use national health-related databases

* share knowledge via the countrywide NHS Information Zone The system will bring a large number of benefits. For example, if a GP feels a patient needs to be referred to a consultant, the request can be made via computer during the appointment.

All Oxfordshire hospitals are being linked to the new system.

Dr Tarrant Stein, from East Oxford health centre, said: "We already have Internet access in our surgeries, but by April all GPs must have access to the NHS Intranet an internal Internet system. "Our practice will soon introduce electronic communication with the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. That will enable us to access waiting lists, patients' discharge information and send referral letters to the hospital directly.

"Security is always a worry, but the NHS intranet can be accessed only by medical staff and GPs. There has been no leak of information as far as I am aware."