A government decision to tender for a new tier of
suppliers to the NHS's £12.4bn National Programme for IT
(NPfIT) has been
welcomed by NHS trusts, though some have told Computer Weekly that
it shows that the current "one-size-fits-all" approach is not
working.
The NPfIT currently uses three main contractors, BT, CSC and
Fujitsu, known as local service providers, to deliver "core" NHS
systems such as the Care Records System.
The government had originally wanted these suppliers also to
provide "additional" systems required by trusts, but after long
delays in the delivery of core applications, some trusts have begun
to buy from suppliers outside the programme.
That has added to doubts about whether the original NPfIT
contracts can meet the NHS's changing requirements.
Last month, a senior representative of a local service provider
told MPs and others at a private meeting that suppliers and the NHS
lacked the skills to meet the health service's needs.
Connecting for Health, which manages the NPfIT, said it was
putting in place "framework contracts to ensure there is an
available supply route of additional capacity and availability of
resources to the NHS to meet future needs if required".
It said the framework contracts were a contingency plan, but
declined to give details of what the contingency measures were for.
It also said that trusts would not be able to buy core systems from
the accredited suppliers without going through local service
providers. It declined to say if the additional suppliers could
offer only non-core systems.
A spokesman for Connecting for Health said, "We cannot give any
more explicit detail at this time because it would be counter to
the OJEU [European tendering] process. Once the OJEU is public, we
can discuss this further."
So far NHS executives appear unsure how to react to the new
framework contract. Some argue that it is a sensible measure to
ensure that there are other accredited suppliers that can meet the
NHS's needs.
Others view the appointment of back-up suppliers as a crisis
measure forced on the programme because local service providers may
fail to meet the NHS's needs.
An announcement on the repositioning of the NPfIT is expected to
be made by health minister Lord Hunt at this month's HC2007
healthcare IT conference in Harrogate.
Paul Cundy, joint chairman of the British Medical Association's
GP IT sub-committee, said, "We welcome the appointment of
accredited suppliers to the NPfIT, though it does appear to put the
NHS back to the position it was in six years ago, when trusts could
buy from a range of suppliers whose products had certain minimum
features."
More on the National Programme
www.computerweekly.com/npfit
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