By Nick Triggle BBC News health reporter

NHS staff will be allowed to access patient records wherever they are treated

Porter Novelli has been awarded a contract by the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) to run a campaign on introducing electronic medical records.

The British Medical Association said it was a "clumsy" attempt to force GPs to back the project and opposition MPs branded it a "waste of money".

But the NPfIT said its campaign was aimed at patients more than doctors.

The national programme have been told they should be engaging with us and yet what we get is a PR company to force us to support it Dr Paul Cundy, of the British Medical Association

Only one in five GPs and half of hospital doctors are enthusiastic about the entire upgrade, which also includes the setting up of a new hospital appointment booking system, a survey of 900 doctors by pollsters Medix suggested last week.

And a National Audit Office (NAO) report in January also criticised the programme and the government for not engaging with GPs enough.

The British Medical Association has raised concerns that the electronic records database, which will allow health staff to access a patient's medical information wherever they are treated, may not be secure enough.

Ministers are now offering the public the chance to opt out of the database, which should be completed by 2006.

Under the terms of the six-figure contract, Porter Novelli, which boasts McDonald's and BAE Systems among its client list, will run a campaign later this year highlighting the benefits of the electronic database and what rights patients will have.

'Unhappy'

Dr Paul Cundy, chairman of the British Medical Association's GPs' committee on IT, said doctors were unhappy a PR company had been employed to run the campaign.

"The national programme have been told they should be engaging with us and yet what we get is a PR company to force us to support it," he said.

"It is a clumsy attempt to get us on board. GPs are losing all confidence in the upgrade."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Paul Burstow said the deal had the potential to "end up being a massive waste of taxpayers' money".

"It is absolutely essential that ministers begin to listen to the concerns of NHS staff, particularly GPs, who will have to use these systems every day, and engage them with the project in order to ensure that it can deliver real benefits for patients."

Shadow Health Minister Andrew Murrison added: "This is yet another example of how the costs of the national programme are spiralling out of control. "

But a spokesman for the NPfIT said: "This is not an attempt to win the hearts and minds of GPs. It is about informing patients."

He said Porter Novelli would be dealing with NHS staff purely to inform them about what information and help they needed to offer patients.

He denied that would involve trying to convince staff of the merits of the system, adding clinical engagement would be done by an NPfIT team.

The spokesman added that the process to appoint Porter Novelli had started last year, long before the critical NAO report.