The emergence of medical informatics as a new discipline is due to a large extent to rapid advances in computing and communications technology and to an increasing awareness that the knowledge base of a modern health system is essentially unmanageable by traditional paper-based methods.

This list has been set up jointly between the Mental Health Informatics Special Interest Group (formerly CIPSIG) and the Informatics Committee of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. It has been created to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information between people interested in the mental health aspects of medical (health) informatics. This includes the use of health information (electronic or paper), information standards, issues of confidentiality and security, use of computers and computing skills, e-health, telepsychiatry, computer assisted therapies (e.g. computer delivered CBT), training needs, careers in health informatics, technical and practical issues and any other topic considered of relevance.

Whilst the list is intended for discussions about the United Kingdom and Ireland, relevant posts relating to informatics works in other countries are welcomed. It is hoped the list will facilitate dissemination of information about national projects such as the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in England. The list is intended to be non commercial but posts from industry are acceptable subject to guidance notes available from the site.

The list is open to psychiatrists, mental health professionals, informaticians and other people interested in mental health informatics such as service users and carers.