The Ministry of Defence's delayed electronic health records system is finally being rolled out across UK army medical facilities.

Ultimately, the Defence Medical Information Capability Programme (DmicP) will allow instant access to military personnels' health history from any enabled system, in a field hospital, on a ship, even on a battlefield. It will replace a multitude of static, paper records.

DmicP was originally scheduled to be live by 2005 but was delayed by network infrastructure upgrades and the £5bn Defence Information Infrastructure scheme.

Once in place in UK army sites, the system will be extended to Air Force, Navy and permanent overseas bases by August next year. And by 2010 it will be linked to the £6bn NHS electronic patient record scheme.

Derek Twigg, the Under Secretary of State for Defence said: 'The new system being launched today is all about improving the care and treatment of military personnel.

'Doctors, pharmacists, nurses and other health professionals will now benefit from access to one central database, providing the most up-to-date information on their patients- it will not matter if they are in Birmingham or Basra.'

Lt Gen Robert Baxter, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Health), said: 'The ability to access patient records anywhere, anytime is an invaluable asset and the assurance of a single record for each patient will give medical staff greater confidence that when treating patients they are looking at a definitive record.'