A briefing paper warning NHS managers of weaknesses in the government's £2.3bn programme to introduce sophisticated computer systems into the NHS has been withdrawn from the official health service website after it provoked questions from journalists.

The document by Catherine Ebenezer, a former NHS librarian, supported the government's objectives, but warned of 13 "significant problems and weaknesses" in the plan for an electronic patient booking system.

It was withdrawn after the magazine Computer Weekly asked the Department of Health to respond. The department said last night that the material was removed because it had been displayed "prematurely", before the normal process of peer review.

The system is intended to allow NHS patients to make appointments at the most convenient hospital with the shortest waiting lists. More than 30,000 GPs in England should get the necessary software by the end of 2005.

The critique by Ms Ebenezer, information systems manager at the Royal College of Midwives, was designed to brief NHS managers on the strategy. She warned that the "very tight" implementation timetable could cause problems and that healthcare organisations were "ill-equipped to deal with the additional demands" of the programme.

The magazine said although the paper had been available on the NHS Electronic Library for Health for several weeks, "it was withdrawn the day after Computer Weekly contacted the department".