EDS has outlined its ambitions to be at the centre of
the government's multibillion-pound investment strategy to overhaul
the NHS IT infrastructure.
The targeting of the lucrative NHS market by the IT services giant
underlines the boom in public sector IT, in stark contrast to most
other industries, where budgets have been cut back in response to
the economic downturn.
Speaking to Computer Weekly, Bill Thomas, managing director of EDS
UK and Ireland, backed the government's national strategy for
overhauling health service IT systems.
"If you want to have a seamless patient journey through the NHS you
must have a national strategy. The NHS has traditionally been
fragmented [for IT services] with each trust doing its own thing.
The big mistake in the past was not having a national strategy," he
said.
However, critics of the government's NHS blueprint have warned that
it is doomed to failure if the government ignores the wishes of
local NHS bodies.
Thomas said a balance would have to be struck between managing the
NHS IT shake-up from Whitehall and giving local NHS IT chiefs
sufficient input into the sweeping changes.
"We [and other suppliers] have been consulted by the NHS in a way
that we never have been before," he said.
Key planks of the government NHS IT strategy include delivering
national services for electronic bookings, integrated care records
and improved procurement.
EDS has already been named as the preferred supplier to develop a
common e-mail system for the health service.
What is the "Delivering 21st Century Support for the
NHS" plan?
The Delivering 21st Century Support for the NHS initiative was
unveiled by health minister Lord Hunt in June last year.
Under the terms of the plan, which is scheduled to start in
April, health service IT is likely to receive £5bn of much-needed
government funding.
Primary projects include a national patient booking system,
electronic health records and electronic reporting of laboratory
results. Key elements of the strategy include setting stringent
national standards for data and IT and establishing a centralised
procurement strategy.
Richard Grainger was last year appointed as national IT
programme director - often referred to as the NHS IT tsar - to
implement what has been described as "the IT challenge of the
decade".
The recruitment push to provide the IT expertise behind the
strategy has now begun. The Department of Health recently
advertised for a range of positions based in Leeds and Birmingham
to help to underpin the national programme. Salaries quoted for the
roles range from £19,000 to £30,000 for project leaders, project
support analysts and project support officers, and up to £70,000
for those heading the programme. T
he successful candidates will be employed by the NHS Information
Authority, a body set up to improve patient care and provide
national products, services and standards for information in the
health service.