"Correct me if I'm wrong, but this appears to be for NHS England only?"
Yes, this is NHS England. It's NHS England because NHS Scotland is devolved from the rest of the country and run by the Scottish Parliament. You get cheaper education and considerably higher public services spending - which is ultimately funded by the whole of the UK*. And yet you're actually surprised that after nearly 20 years of devolution Westminster have suddenly clocked on to that and decided to cut your grants?
"Rarrrr they be taking our money below the wall rarrrr" is a little bit tenuous at the best of times, but complaining that something only benefits England when it's your own devolved government that took control of your NHS is a bit rich.
That said, I completely agree the money should be spent elsewhere (wage increases, training, recruitment, actual medical equipment, more beds etc etc). I see enough wasted government IT spending in my role as it is. I would say free hospital WiFi is a good idea but it's really not worth £1bn of public money when there's so many other things to spend money on.
* Including Scotland partially funding itself, of course. I'm not trying to suggest England pays for everything while everyone else sits back and relaxes. That would be complete rubbish. But the point is that, despite separate budgets, ultimately the money comes out of the same pot so any spending is saddled on all of us.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
