The extent of the crisis enveloping a key supplier for
the NHS’s £12.4bn National Programme for IT (NPfIT) is set to be
revealed later this week.
Troubled software firm iSOFT’s Lorenzo electronic patient record
system was selected as the crucial care record service component in
three out of the five NPfIT geographical clusters.
On Friday, iSOFT must post financial results that have twice
been delayed or face suspension of its shares by the stock
exchange. The company has also been forced to change its accounting
rules after irregularities were found in its 2004 and 2005 accounts
and has made 150 UK staff redundant in a bid to steady its
finances.
Amid speculation that Friday’s results will reveal a sharp drop
in the firm’s profitability, the Guardian newspaper has served
notice that it will apply to the high court to remove a gagging
order used to stop an investigation into iSOFT’s finances two years
ago.
The Guardian said it had seen papers in 2004 that “raised
serious issues about iSOFT’s accounts”.
The Commons public accounts committee quizzed senior NHS
officials in June over the state of iSOFT and the impact on NPfIT
if the firm went bust.
Richard Granger, chief executive of Connecting for Health, which
runs NPfIT, told the MPs that prime contractors Accenture and CSC
would have to “put money or human resources in” to shore up the
programme’s delivery.
Earlier this month, iSOFT received a rare piece of good news,
securing a contract to supply a diagnostic test request management
system to the health ministry of Spain’s Cantabria region.
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