As Sean Riddell, EMIS managing director, argues in his article in this sponsored feature, information sharing is becoming ever more important as health communities seek to roll out Lord Darzi's agenda of delivering care closer to home.

Liverpool Primary Care Trust is already showing what can be done to move specialist services into the community; and its 'new health service for Liverpool' strategy depends on GPs and other healthcare professionals sharing information through EMIS Web.

Patients using diabetes and endocrinology services in Cheshire and Hertfordshire are also benefiting from more integrated services, built around clinicians having access to a summary of their primary care data thanks to the same technology.

Riddell also argues that information sharing has a key role to play in the government's wellness and prevention strategies. The last article in this sponsored feature looks at a not-for-profit partnership between EMIS and the University of Nottingham that is delivering information to support public health planning and to pick up and track public health emergencies.