A prodigious information systems failure.

The article reports a case study in the conception and implementation of a regional information systems project in a Regional Health Authority in England in the 1980s. The project was technically ambitious and involved far-reaching organizational changes throughout the region. The project failed, after considerable expenditure, because support in the region dwindled. With reference to the context of changing management practice in the National Health Service in the 1980s, the project is assessed in the light of its technocratic focus and its effects on the organization, including implicit changes in power relationships.