Tony Collins's IT Projects Blog

I said on the BBC Radio 4 "Today" programme this morning (approx 8.30am) that the loss of a memory stick by PA Consulting raises questions about why a private contractor had access to government data on 84,000 criminals. Does this mean private companies will also have access, on the quiet, to patient-identiable information under the NHS's National Programme for IT? I also said that there is so little independent scrutiny of the government machine, and so much secrecy, that the only time systemic failures come to light is when there is a, well, systemic failure.  

Continue reading "BBC R4 Today - why did PA have prison database download?" »

Are the effects on patients of NPfIT go-lives merely "teething"?

"All the risks are falling on patients," says Shadow Health spokesman 

Whenever the results of NPfIT go-lives are highlighted in the media, the official line is that all difficulties are teething.  Teething implies short-term, inconsequential pain. Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust went live with the Cerner R0 Millennium Care Records Service in July 2007 and is still not over the difficulties according to board papers dated July 2008.

Below we publish verbatim excerpts from some of the trust's board papers, and a paper from the local primary care trust at Enfield.

Aside from the possible effects on patients of cancelled operations, delayed treatments and appointments which were temporarily lost, there have been long-term financial consequences of the go-live.  This is from a paper, which is dated July 2008, to the trust's board:

Continue reading "NPfIT go-live at Barnet and Chase Farm - the facts " »

And what was left out of UCL report on the Summary Care Record

Comment/analysis

A senior executive working for the NHS says that, for the National Programme for IT [NPfIT], the new health CIO Christine Connelly could be what cold water is to a man dying of thirst.

But her success will depend on her freedom of action and the frankness of the briefings she's given.

Serious problems cannot be tackled if they're not officially acknowledged to be serious; so one hopes that Connelly will be given the unadorned facts, and be allowed to acknowledge them publicly. This honesty at the top would be good for the NPfIT.

Continue reading "New NHS IT leaders - good news for the NPfIT?" »

BT, the main IT supplier to London under the £12.7bn NHS's National Programme for IT [NPfIT], is "stretched to deliver" according to the capital's strategic health authority.

Continue reading "NPfIT supplier BT is "stretched to deliver" " »

Swindon GP Gavin Jamie, who runs the Quality and Outcomes Framework database website, writes in response to an entry on this IT Projects blog about NHS Connecting for Health's having achieved its 10 millionth "booking" on the NPfIT Choose and Book system:

Continue reading "Choose and Book - bookings aren't always appointments" »

Connecting for Health has announced that 10 million "bookings" have been made through the Choose and Book system  - a central part of the NHS's National Programme for IT.

Continue reading "Choose and Book - making progress?" »

The Department of Health has appointed Christine Connelly, a former chief information officer at Cadbury Schweppes, as the first CIO for Health, in a job expected to have a salary of at least £200,000.

The NHS's £12.7bn National Programme for IT [NPfIT] - the UK's largest IT programme - will be only part of her responsibilities. David Nicholson, Chief Executive of the NHS, is expected to remain as the overall senior responsible owner of the NPfIT. This means that the NPfIT still has no full-time overall senor responsible owner.  

Reporting to Connelly will be Martin Bellamy, Director of Programme and System Delivery, who will run NHS Connecting for Health, which is partly responsible for the NPfIT.

Continue reading "New health IT leaders with joint salaries of £400k" »

Are trust chief executives being subjected to pressure through personal contracts to buy from CSC or BT?

Health officials are pressing the boards of NHS Trusts in the south of England to buy from BT or CSC, which are out-of-area local service providers to the National Programme for IT [NPfIT].

The pressure comes after the announcement of the departure from the programme of Fujitsu, the NPfIT local service provider in the south.

But the pressure is being strongly resisted by some boards of foundation trusts which have more freedom than other trust boards to buy what they want, provided they make a good case for doing so.

Continue reading "Trust chief execs pressed to buy NPfIT systems from CSC or BT?" »

The chairman of a strategic health authority says that some Cerner go-lives in the south of England have been a huge step forward - but at others implementations have been a "step backwards".

Continue reading "Some Cerner NPfIT go-lives a step forward - SHA chair" »