The writer of a respected US healthcare IT blog has questioned the credibility of a claim by a UK minister, Baroness Thornton, that Fujitsu's leaving the NHS's National Programme for IT [NPfIT] is a sign of the scheme's strength.
HIStalk was following up our article on a short debate in the House of Lords on the NPfIT.
HIStalk says:
"A UK government minister with a glass-half-full perspective says that the roster of vendors pulling out of NPfIT, most recently Fujitsu, is actually great news. 'The fact that Fujitsu's contract was terminated is in fact a sign of the programme's strength. The programme is still on course and our contractors are not paid until they have delivered. In that sense, no money has been lost.' Expressing a preference to keep the project money rather than have vendors meet deliverables suggests that NPfIT was a bad idea in the first place, not that politicians are the best source of astute analysis."
Links:
Minister hails Fujitsu's leaving NPfIT as a sign of strength - Computer Weekly
Minister's claim about NPfIT and Fujitsu doesn't take account of trust uncertainties - IT Projects blog
Fujitsu to withdraw from the NPfIT - what happens now? - website of Richard Bacon MP, quoting Computer Weekly
