16/06/2006
NHS IT system years behind schedule, says report
Delays and overspend have hit the mult-billion pound NHS IT system for England, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).
The massive 10-year £19bn IT upgrade of the system aims to link over 30,000 GPs in England with a central IT systems in 300 local hospitals.
But the massive IT programme run by government agency NHS Connecting for Health, has been hit by delays in IT supply chain and has slipped on implementation schedules of the system in the NHS, and failed to gain support from the public and NHS staff.
The report called on NHS Connecting for health to provide "greater clarity" on when the different elements were to be delivered, and how the implementation would affect staff.
While the NAO report welcomed progress with the programme's contractual management systems, it called for the imposition of penalties where contractual committments were not delivered.
Faced with escalating costs and the cost of replacing core contract before the end of the implementation programme the bill is expected to exceed £20bn.
The IT system is to integrate medical records, appointments, and prescriptions for around 50 million patients in England.
Current estimates place the medical records component of the system at two years behind schedule, and the booking system at one year behind schedule.
GPs remain concerned about patient confidentiality and the unrealistic timetable for the implementation of the system.
(SP/CD)
The massive 10-year £19bn IT upgrade of the system aims to link over 30,000 GPs in England with a central IT systems in 300 local hospitals.
But the massive IT programme run by government agency NHS Connecting for Health, has been hit by delays in IT supply chain and has slipped on implementation schedules of the system in the NHS, and failed to gain support from the public and NHS staff.
The report called on NHS Connecting for health to provide "greater clarity" on when the different elements were to be delivered, and how the implementation would affect staff.
While the NAO report welcomed progress with the programme's contractual management systems, it called for the imposition of penalties where contractual committments were not delivered.
Faced with escalating costs and the cost of replacing core contract before the end of the implementation programme the bill is expected to exceed £20bn.
The IT system is to integrate medical records, appointments, and prescriptions for around 50 million patients in England.
Current estimates place the medical records component of the system at two years behind schedule, and the booking system at one year behind schedule.
GPs remain concerned about patient confidentiality and the unrealistic timetable for the implementation of the system.
(SP/CD)
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