Comment
The executive chairman and CEO of Australian company IBA Health Gary Cohen has spoken briefly about the future of the “Lorenzo” product. IBA has acquired iSoft which is due to supply Lorenzo, a product that's important to the success of the NHS's National Programme for IT [NPfIT].
In his statement dated 22 January 2008 Cohen
- doesn’t pretend that Lorenzo has already been delivered. He says: “The first release of Lorenzo will go live during the current half …”
- says that representatives from NHS Connecting for Health have “recently been to Chennai for a series of product demonstrations. Their feedback has been exceptionally positive; they're very excited about Lorenzo”. But hasn’t that been one of the big problems all along with software planned for the National Programme for IT? It’s easy to make a nascent product look good on demonstration PCs. It’s when the software is deployed in a practical setting - hospitals - that some systems are found wanting. Software should be designed from the ground upwards, on the basis of what doctors want and need for the benefit of patients, rather than from a height downwards in the hope that the needs of a central authority will eventually meet those of the potential end-users.
- revealed that iSoft revealed received what he called NHS “finance” in return for which the supplier gave a 17% discount on services it provided. He added: “We're in the final stages of negotiations with the NHS to do away with the agreement and enhance the underlying contract profitability.”
Nearly six years since the NPfIT was announced it’s reassuring to know that a well-financed supplier is soon to deliver the first release of one of the programme’s main products.
Links:
IBA's statement - dated 22 January 2008
Some NPfIIT "major issues" - did the prime minister get a full briefing?