NHS, Microsoft, the BMA
Computing magazine reports that:
The NHS will shave £330m from its software licensing costs following the signing of a nine-year deal with Microsoft, according to the National Programme for NHS IT (NPfIT).
Jack Schofield, of the Guardian, reckons this works out, roughly speaking, at about £1 per computer per week.
Meanwhile, the BMA have issued fresh warnings about looming IT disasters in the sector, arguing:
We hope that improvements to IT systems will reduce the administrative burden on doctors so they can spend more time treating patients. This goal will only be realised if the national programme can provide systems that are at least as effective as those currently in use. Clinical staff must be consulted. There is no point investing billions of pounds in systems that do not have the confidence of users. [...] Large-scale public IT projects do not have a good track record in the UK and so it is paramount that the NHS learns the lessons of history and engages with the frontline staff who will be using the new systems. So far the level of engagement and consultation with the medical profession has been wholly inadequate.
More about this on The Register.
