BT is to resume the roll out ofCerner "Millennium" systemsin London
after go-lives were halted last October because of serious problems
at the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust and atBarts and The London NHS
Trust.
The resumption of installations in London under the
NHS's National Programme for IT [NPfIT] is because officials at
the Royal Free believe that the systems installed by BT in June
last year have begun to stabilise.
BT's executives will be relieved at the resumed roll outs, as
the company's financial year-end is approaching. The Department of
Health's payments to BT are linked to deployments, after the
systems have been certified by NHS trusts as fit for purpose.
BT's global services division has announced a write-off of £340m
and the possibility of hundreds of millions more, in part because
of extra costs and delays in payments on the company's £1bn
contract as the local service provider for London.
An indefinite delay in deployments in London could have hit
confidence in the company which has seen its share price fall by
about half in the past year.
The strengthening of the relationship between BT and Whitehall
officials - at a time when the two sides are renegotiating parts of
the NPfIT contract - may be a sign the government is willing to be
generous to the company rather than risk its quitting the national
programme.
Accenture has already left, Fujitsu is leaving and if BT quits
that would leave a single local service provider, CSC. In this
event, the NPfIT could be perceived world-wide as a failure.
The Department of Health's NHS Connecting for Health, which is
involved in talks with BT, declined to comment on whether it has
shifted in its tough stance against the supplier.
The resumed roll outs mean that London trusts can prepare in
earnest for go-live with a version of Cerner which has been adapted
for use in the capital. The Royal Free, Barnet and Chase Farm,
Queen Mary's Sidcup, and Barts and The London NHS Trust have
already gone live with the London Configuration version of Cerner.
Only the Royal Free has LC1 which uses smartcards.
Next in line for going live with Cerner in the London area are
Kingston Hospital NHS Trust, Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton, St
George's Healthcare NHS Trust, and Imperial College Healthcare NHS
Trust.
A spokeswoman for the London Programme for IT, part of the
NPfIT, said, "The NHS in London has renewed its commitment to
continue to implement Cerner Millennium within acute trusts as part
of the roll out across the capital of electronic care records to
deliver improved patient care
"Several upgrades have been made to the Cerner Millennium London
Configuration 1 software currently being used by the Royal Free
Hampstead NHS Trust to streamline and enhance the system for
users.
"In addition to this, improvements are also being made at the
trusts using the LC0 version of Cerner Millennium - Barnet and
Chase Farm, Queen Mary's Sidcup and Barts and The London
"Due to the good progress made with the improvement programme
and greater confidence in the functionality and stability of the
system, the London Acute Programme Board has recommended that the
implementation of Cerner Millennium should continue in London."
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