Spending on the main contracts underpinning the NHS's
national IT scheme up to April 2007 was £1.5bn less than the
Department of Health had expected, according to figures released by
the government last week.
The reduced spend on the main IT contracts under the
National Programme for IT (NPfIT) was largely because of delays
in the delivery of new systems, and therefore fewer implementations
in trusts. BT, CSC and Fujitsu, the local service providers to the
NPfIT, are paid mainly when they reach milestones and have systems
accepted by trusts.
The Department of Health spent £1.3bn by April 2007. It expected
to have spent £2.8bn on its main IT contracts by that time.
The central costs of what are described as "activity and
projects" within
NHS Connecting for Health, which runs part of the NPfIT, were
more in line with its expectations. In 2004, officials expected to
have spent £695m by April 2007 - the actual figure was £647m.
The figures have been released by the Department of Health in
its first "benefits statement" for the NPfIT after the National
Audit Office (NAO) recommended it quantify financial benefits and
service improvements, set against costs.
The NAO also called for a study to measure the impact of the
programme on local NHS IT spending - both costs and savings - where
national systems were being deployed. This should be used, said the
NAO, to "provide an up-to-date assessment of the overall investment
case for the programme".
The benefits statement, which was released last Thursday at a
media event chaired by health minister Ben Bradshaw, goes part of
the way towards meeting the NAO recommendations.
The statement said there had been savings of £208m up to April
2007, £192m of which was saved as a result of the N3 national
broadband network supplied by BT.
By the time the 10-year contracts with local service providers
expire in 2014, the Department of Health expects to have saved
£1.14bn - not taking into account the expected improvements in
services to doctors and patients.
David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, said, "The report
shows we have made really solid progress against delivering an
integrated IT systems for the NHS."
The benefits statement had been expected last summer but was
delayed until last week. Health officials said it had been a
challenging task to research and produce the document.
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Tony Collins' blog