Guidelines for setting up primary care groups contain virtually no recommendations on information technology solutions, or money to build them, according to GP computing experts.'There is not and will not be an IT solution or detailed specifications for primary care groups,' said a regional GP computer adviser. Part of the reason is that the new information management and technology strategy remains unpublished - but the strategy's implications for primary care could be 'truly amazing'.

Some GP software suppliers have told doctors' representatives that they will not provide year 2000 compliant upgrades of their products, according to a British Medical Association spokesperson. However, the BMA believes most GPs intend to replace their patient record systems by the millennium despite the cut in the health authority equipment subsidy for computer equipment from 75 per cent to 50 per cent or less, he said.

More than 50 per cent of GPs believe that NHSnet will improve the quality of their service, according to a survey of GPs by suppliers Diagnostica and Sysdeco. It also showed strong GP support for geographic information systems. GIS databases - also called computer-based mapping and already in use by several ambulance trusts - could help GPs save time by pinpointing patient locations. The results come from interviews with primary care managers at the recent National Association of GPs conference.

Failure of hospital-run patient databases such as immunisation and cervical cytology registers is the main threat to public health arising from the year 2000 bug, according to Professor Mike Smith of Bart's Hospital, London. Failure of these systems - which are accessed by GPs through the GP Links initiative - could have serious consequences, including age cohorts of children missing out on NHS vaccination programmes in and after 2000, he said.