Department of Health staff will be able to read these words without fear of the sack - because technology "glasnost" in their section of the notoriously stuffy civil service now permits "free" use of the internet at work.

An internal review has concluded that for the first time staff should be allowed to log on to the internet for personal use, such as on-line banking, or, for that matter, reading SocietyGuardian.co.uk.

As health secretary Alan Milburn launches his £500m IT strategy for the NHS, DoH civil servants have been told that the existing prohibition on personal use of internet use has been eased.

A memo sent out last week says: "We have relaxed the current rules to allow reasonable personal use of DoH facilities, such as accessing the internet, provided they are used with discretion."

It adds: "The guidance relaxes the department's current policy which has been to prohibit any personal use of IT facilities.

"In particular it recognises that there may be times when you need to undertake personal business when in the office, for example, on-line banking."

But it warns that downloading video clips, music tracks, "offensive material" and "large quantities of personal material" is unacceptable, and warns that misuse could lead to the sack. It also says disk drives and directories on staff PCs will be routinely monitored "You should not therefore have any expectation of personal privacy when using the department's IT facilities for personal use."

The NHS IT strategy, called Building the Information Core, sets a target of giving net access to all NHS staff by April 2003, and warns that the NHS faces a "major behavioural, culture changechallenge" in becoming more e-savvy.

A recent internal review of DoH plans for electronic government found that the department was generally unprepared to exploit the electronic revolution.

It said: "The benefits of e-systems are not generally fully understood at senior management level."