NHS IT Disaster Looming?
In the summer it is was reported that the NAO would be probing the new NHS IT modernisatlon programme. If a report in Computer Weekly is anywhere near the mark then their report (due next summer) is going to be a blockbuster:
The IT-led modernisation of the health service could cost a minimum of £18.6bn - at least three times more than the announced figure - with a large part of the bill falling locally, on NHS trusts.
The estimated 10-year cost of the NHS’ national programme for IT (NPfIT) raises questions over whether trusts, some of which are in the red, will be able to fund all their commitments to make the initiative a success.
Trust staff and GPs throughout England want the programme to succeed. But some trusts are warning that money for the NPfIT may eat into local budgets that are for direct patient care.
Computer Weekly has learned that officials at the Department of Health have estimated the total implementation costs of the national programme at between £8.6bn and £31bn. The programme includes a care records service to give 50 million patients in England an electronic health record, Choose and Book to allow people to select hospital appointments from a choice of dates and locations, and new local IT infrastructures.
After the programme was announced in 2002, the government allocated £2.3bn central funding for the national systems over three years. Since then the procurement figure has risen to £6.2bn over 10 years. But now it has emerged that a further £12bn to £24bn may need to be spent, a large part of it locally. Much of this extra money has yet to be found and there is no clarity over whether it will materialise.
If the resources are not found, and trusts cannot afford local implementation costs, there is a risk that some of the £6.2bn procurement will be spent on advanced systems that go largely unused by doctors and nurses.
Meanwhile, a survey of GPs shows many have grave doubts about the programme and many feel they haven’t been adequately consulted.
Haven’t we been here before?
