Seven years after the launch of the
National Programme for IT in the NHS, essential technology does
not meet the needs of doctors, local cost estimates are unreliable,
many NHS staff remain unenthusiastic, and the programme's future is
far from certain.
These are among the conclusions of the Public Accounts
Committee, which publishes a report today on the £12.7bn National
Programme for IT (NPfIT), the UK government's biggest IT-based
programme.
>> See also:
NHS IT warnings the government ignored,
Government IT disasters: a clear case for
change
The committee questions the government's policy of awarding
£6.2bn worth of contracts to suppliers to deliver to the NHS as a
whole. The report of the all-party committee says it is not yet
convinced that the Department of Health secured good value for
money by letting the contracts.
The chairman of the committee, Edward Leigh, says the aim was to
complete the programme in 2010, but even the revised dates of
2014-15 for completion of the roll-out of the Care Records Service
may be optimistic. This is because Fujitsu is quitting as the main
supplier in the south of England.
The committee also expresses concern that if trust boards decide
not to deploy NPfIT systems, the taxpayer can still be obliged to
make payments to the suppliers concerned.
Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust has been threatened with paying
penalties for choosing to buy its main hospital patient
administration system by open tender instead of through the
NPfIT.
Leigh says that if there no improvement in the fortunes of the
NPfIT in six months, the Department of Health should consider
allowing trusts to apply for funding for alternative systems.
Richard Bacon, a member of the committee who has followed the
NPfIT for several years, says that trusts should be free to buy
what they want subject to common standards. "In its current form
the programme is in deep trouble from which it is unlikely to
recover," he says.
He adds, "The programme's central aim was to create detailed
electronic patients records but this is now so far behind schedule
that hospitals are walking away Trusts are refusing to take systems
offered by the Programme because they are not fit for purpose."
Leigh says, "The risks to this massive IT project have been
heightened by the departure from the programme of two of the
original four local service providers [Accenture and Fujitsu]."
Leigh questioned whether the remaining suppliers, BT and CSC can
"continue to meet their substantial commitments".
Computer Weekly and leading academics in the field of computer
science have called repeatedly for an independent, published review
of the NPfIT. This could have pointed a new way forward for the
programme. But ministers have always rejected such a review, and
when interviewed on TV and the radio, and in statements to
Parliament, have praised the progress of the programme.
Trusts have stopped deploying new systems while serious problems
continue at trusts where the NPfIT Care Records Service has been
deployed, including at the Royal Free in Hampstead and Barts and
The London NHS Trust.
A statement issued by the Department of Health says, "We welcome
the report. New IT systems in the NHS are delivering better, safer
and faster care. Current costs have declined because of the delays
to implementation due mainly to adding extra functions to the
system. Costs are also controlled by the contracts which only pay
to providers once the service has been successfully delivered."
Read
more about the NPfIT on the IT Projects Blog >>