The board of an NHS trust has learned of a "significant"
risk of Fujitsu ending its £900m contract to supply and implement
hospital systems across southern England as part of theNational Programme for IT
(NPfIT).
A withdrawal would add to delays in installations of NPfIT
systems, deepen
scepticism among doctors over whether the programme is
feasible, and could indicate that the NPfIT is in deeper trouble
than widely thought.
In 2006
Accenture withdrew as a local service provider, making
provision for write-offs of about £230m.
Fujitsu and NHS
Connecting for Health, which runs part of the NPfIT, and the
Department of Health are discussing a contract "reset", which
involves a renegotiation of large parts of the £896m deal signed in
2004. The contract is not due to finish until 2013.
Computer Weekly understands that there are differences of views
over the cost of the requested work which amount to tens of
millions of pounds.
If an agreement over price cannot be reached, Fujitsu has the
choice of seeking to reduce the amount of work and risk it is being
asked to take on, absorbing any extra costs or withdrawing.
The Royal United Hospital at Bath has warned of a series of
risks to its planned go-live of NPfIT systems this spring. It has
categorised as "significant" a risk of "further delays if Fujitsu
ceases to be the local service provider for the South [of
England]". The trust's staff are involved in the contract
reset.
To mitigate risk, the trust would have to establish an effective
working relationship with Fujitsu sub-contractor Cerner to "ensure
satisfactory continuity in the event of Fujitsu's contract ending",
said Richard Smale in a paper to his board, which he wrote as head
of information services at Royal United Hospital.
Fujitsu is known to be a tough negotiator and, according to a
National Audit Office report, it threatened to withdraw from the
Libra contract to supply a national case management system for
magistrates courts. In the end, the value of Fujitsu's Libra
contract was increased from £146m to £232m and it was reduced in
scope, with the government's agreement.
A spokeswoman for Fujitsu declined to comment on whether it may
cease to be the South's local service provider, or that in the
contract reset negotiations there are differences of views over the
cost of the requested work of tens of millions of pounds.
The spokeswoman said, "We cannot comment on ongoing commercial
negotiations."
NHS Connecting for Health made a similar comment.
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