The chancellor Gordon Brown has defended the NHS
national programme for IT after an MP asked him whether it was
likely to be a multibillion-pound fiasco.
During a debate in the House of Commons last week, MP Richard
Bacon, who sits on the Public Accounts Committee, quoted to Brown
an article in a doctors' magazine which said the national programme
was "more likely to be a fiasco than the Dome".
Bacon then referred to the £6bn worth of contracts signed between
the government and a handful of local and national service
providers. He asked Brown if he "should not be rather worried that
the Department of Health is about to squander £6bn?"
In reply, Brown said that before Bacon pronounces that the
programme is not working, "he should look at the evidence of all
the efforts that have been made to ensure that it does".
The national plan consists of four projects: a system for
electronic medical records, a means of booking hospital
appointments, a broadband infrastructure and e-prescriptions. The
first systems were due to go live at the end of June, but firm
evidence of this has not yet emerged.
Brown said a great deal of work has been done in setting up an
extensive IT programme. "The NHS uses more IT than any organisation
outside Nasa. It is therefore very important it is right.
"New people have been brought in and the whole system has to be
modernised. It is important that electronic records can be properly
developed and that nurses and GPs' surgeries can be in regular
contact with hospitals.
He added, "It is in all our interests that the programme
works."
After the debate, Bacon criticised Brown's assurances for being
vague.
MPs' report on IT due
The House of Commons work and pensions select committee will on
Thursday publish the findings of its inquiry into public sector IT
project failures. Writing exclusively for Computer Weekly, ahead of
the report, MP Richard Bacon said public scrutiny was the key to
future success.
"Bad projects are like anaerobic bacteria. They cannot survive
exposure or oxygen but thrive on secrecy and lack of candour," he
wrote, supporting this publication's Shaking up Government IT
campaign, which calls for the publication of Gateway reviews and
for a legal framework for public sector project management.
Whitehall must end secrecy >>