I have reported on this from time to time. This is where Brown’s
previous lot of borrowing has gone. A £12bn catastrophe and money
totally wasted. (It’s a third of the money needed to try and save
the banking system) It’s almost certainly a total write-off! It
is, however, merely the most recent government computer fiasco
This shows that even if borrowing more were the right answer to the
recession - which it certainly is not - Gordon Brown ios the last
person who should be allowed any say on where money is spent.
Each of you has spent about £218 on this.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx cs
=======================
FINANCIAL TIMES 28.10.08
NHS records project grinds to halt
By Nicholas Timmins, Public Policy Editor
Progress on the £12bn computer programme designed to give doctors
instant access to patients’ records across the country has virtually
ground to a halt, raising questions about whether the world’s biggest
civil information technology project will ever be finished.
Connecting for Health, the ambitious plan to give every patient a
comprehensive electronic record, has faced a series of problems over
its size and complexity since it was first launched in 2002.
In May this year, the National Audit Office said the project was
running at least four years late but still appeared “feasible”.
Since then, however, just one of the scores of acute care hospitals
due to install the underlying administration system required in order
for the patient record to work has done so. The hospital, Royal Free
NHS Trust in London, continues to have difficulties getting it to
operate properly.
In addition, the contractor originally hired to build the patient
record system for the whole of the south of England, Fujitsu, has
been fired. And BT, one of the two key remaining contractors, has
been unable to agree a price for taking over the work Fujitsu had begun.
Health ministers originally promised the long-delayed first
installation of patient record software in the north of England would
finally take place in June at Morecambe Bay on the Lancashire/Cumbria
border.
But four months on, the system has still not gone live and neither
Morecambe Bay nor Connecting for Health can give a date when it might.
CfH’s most recent published plans for the next three months do not
include a single installation of a patient administration system into
any acute hospital trust.
And while NHS Trusts in the south – Fujitsu’s former area – are being
given a choice of working with BT, the supplier for London, or CSC,
the supplier for the north, none has yet signed up with either.
Jon Hoeksma, editor of the e-health insider website which has tracked
the CfH programme from its start, said other parts of the £12bn
project are continuing to make progress.
“But this key part seems to be simply stuck. It has ground to a halt.
And that is not just affecting deployments that should be happening
now. It will have a knock-on effect on those that are meant to be
going live two or three years down the line.”
Hospital chief executives, he said, did not want to take a new system
“until they have seen it put in pretty flawlessly elsewhere”.
Frances Blunden, the IT policy specialist at the NHS Confederation,
the body that represents NHS Trusts, said: “It is a little bit too
early to pronounce the programme dead.”
She said there were “undeniable” problems, but “to say everyone is
walking away from it is a bit premature, probably”. [“a little bit
too early “ and “probably” don’t have a ring of confidence about
them! -cs]
She said the health department had promised earlier this year to
address hospital complaints that the system was too standardised and
could not be adjusted to take account of local needs. “But we haven’t
seen the implementation document to put flesh on the bones of that.”
A spokesman for Connecting for Health acknowledged that BT, which
covers London, was “taking stock” given the difficulties encountered.
The spokesman said it was more important to get the quality of
installations right rather than promise delivery on a particular
date. Talks with suppliers were under way to ensure “a smooth
transition” in the south, after Fujitsu’s departure.
previous lot of borrowing has gone. A £12bn catastrophe and money
totally wasted. (It’s a third of the money needed to try and save
the banking system) It’s almost certainly a total write-off! It
is, however, merely the most recent government computer fiasco
This shows that even if borrowing more were the right answer to the
recession - which it certainly is not - Gordon Brown ios the last
person who should be allowed any say on where money is spent.
Each of you has spent about £218 on this.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx cs
=======================
FINANCIAL TIMES 28.10.08
NHS records project grinds to halt
By Nicholas Timmins, Public Policy Editor
Progress on the £12bn computer programme designed to give doctors
instant access to patients’ records across the country has virtually
ground to a halt, raising questions about whether the world’s biggest
civil information technology project will ever be finished.
Connecting for Health, the ambitious plan to give every patient a
comprehensive electronic record, has faced a series of problems over
its size and complexity since it was first launched in 2002.
In May this year, the National Audit Office said the project was
running at least four years late but still appeared “feasible”.
Since then, however, just one of the scores of acute care hospitals
due to install the underlying administration system required in order
for the patient record to work has done so. The hospital, Royal Free
NHS Trust in London, continues to have difficulties getting it to
operate properly.
In addition, the contractor originally hired to build the patient
record system for the whole of the south of England, Fujitsu, has
been fired. And BT, one of the two key remaining contractors, has
been unable to agree a price for taking over the work Fujitsu had begun.
Health ministers originally promised the long-delayed first
installation of patient record software in the north of England would
finally take place in June at Morecambe Bay on the Lancashire/Cumbria
border.
But four months on, the system has still not gone live and neither
Morecambe Bay nor Connecting for Health can give a date when it might.
CfH’s most recent published plans for the next three months do not
include a single installation of a patient administration system into
any acute hospital trust.
And while NHS Trusts in the south – Fujitsu’s former area – are being
given a choice of working with BT, the supplier for London, or CSC,
the supplier for the north, none has yet signed up with either.
Jon Hoeksma, editor of the e-health insider website which has tracked
the CfH programme from its start, said other parts of the £12bn
project are continuing to make progress.
“But this key part seems to be simply stuck. It has ground to a halt.
And that is not just affecting deployments that should be happening
now. It will have a knock-on effect on those that are meant to be
going live two or three years down the line.”
Hospital chief executives, he said, did not want to take a new system
“until they have seen it put in pretty flawlessly elsewhere”.
Frances Blunden, the IT policy specialist at the NHS Confederation,
the body that represents NHS Trusts, said: “It is a little bit too
early to pronounce the programme dead.”
She said there were “undeniable” problems, but “to say everyone is
walking away from it is a bit premature, probably”. [“a little bit
too early “ and “probably” don’t have a ring of confidence about
them! -cs]
She said the health department had promised earlier this year to
address hospital complaints that the system was too standardised and
could not be adjusted to take account of local needs. “But we haven’t
seen the implementation document to put flesh on the bones of that.”
A spokesman for Connecting for Health acknowledged that BT, which
covers London, was “taking stock” given the difficulties encountered.
The spokesman said it was more important to get the quality of
installations right rather than promise delivery on a particular
date. Talks with suppliers were under way to ensure “a smooth
transition” in the south, after Fujitsu’s departure.
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