Analyzing the UK NHS Care Records Service (NCRS): a Stakeholder/Actor Network Theory Perspective

Actor Network Theory (ANT) studies provide detailed accounts of how human and non-human actors gradually form stable actor-networks. Actor Network Theory has been deployed in various environments to achieve a better understanding of the roles of the humans as well as the artifacts that constitute actor networks. This paper examines the use of ANT, enhanced by stakeholder analysis as used in information systems research, to generate a rich picture of the complex implementation process of the NHS Care Records Service (NCRS) in the UK National Health Service (NHS). We propose the use of a case study, to demonstrate how stakeholder analysis can be deployed alongside ANT to identify and follow the formation of relevant actor-networks. The networks in this case are healthcare networks of services, organizations and information technologies. In this study we argue that the NCRS influences and is influenced by multiple stakeholders, who have different perceptions, try to form and mobilize different networks and operate in a highly complex and political empirical context. The application of stakeholder analysis combined with ANT in this case could offer evidence in favour of combining the two approaches in supporting decision making in health care information provision and the study of complex information systems settings more generally.