NHS trusts should implement interim IT systems instead
of waiting for theNational Programme for IT(NPfIT) to
deliver in 2012, a government review of health IT has
concluded.
The Department of Health's
Health Informatics Review, said that trusts needed access to
interim solutions before the conclusion of the £12.4bn NPFIT.
"Benefits need to be achieved for patients and clinicians sooner
than waiting for the strategic systems. Solutions are needed
pending delivery of the strategic systems," the report said.
Gordon Hextall, director of informatics at the Department of
Health, acknowledged that trusts are "frustrated" at
how long it is taking to develop the strategic systems of the
NPfIT.
"Whilst the programme has started for the acute hospital
systems, it's going to take four years longer than thought to get
them in everywhere," he said.
Under the plan, trusts will be able implement interim solutions
for patient administration systems, order communications and
diagnostics reporting, discharge and accident and emergency
letters, scheduling for beds and tests, and e-prescribing.
Local Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) and Connecting for
Health, the body that is delivering the NPfIT, will develop
"roadmaps", to roll out the interim systems.
Trusts will be able to buy the systems from
suppliers who are already developing the strategic systems for
the NPfIT.
The systems will be delivered on a case-by-case basis, and each
trust will have to provide a business case for each system, the
Department of Health said.
"Some products and services currently available from individual
LSPs are already delivering benefits. They should be made more
widely available to the NHS," the report said.
Trusts will not be encouraged to find their own suppliers, said
Bruce Keogh, NHS medical director and interim director general for
informatics. "If people start going it alone we'll have a free for
all. That would be a great opportunity cost."
The NHS plans to develop a staff portal providing a
"one-stop-shop" for internal IT systems that are used regularly. It
is also developing a prototype for a "clinical dashboard". This
will give clinicians many sources of clinical information from the
hospital in a single display. The aim is to improve the clinical
team's ability to improve care.
These two proposals are outside the original NPfIT, and may
require "tens of millions" in extra investment, Hextall said.
Seperately the report warned that the NHS is experiencing a
shortage of "appropriately experienced change, programme and
project managers."
The department said it will increase training and careers
investment, including the creation of a graduate training
scheme.
Health chiefs have short-listed candidates for the role of chief
information officer for health, who will sit on the NHS management
board.
The appointment of the CIO for health will "provide a clear
message about the importance of the informatics agenda," according
to the report.
The Informatics Review looked at how information can be better
used across the NHS. It will be followed by an Implementation
Report this autumn.