MPs issue damning report on failure of NHS IT programme

The Commons Public Accounts Committee have published a damning report (Wednesday 3rd August), which confirms that delivery of the Lorenzo EPR system, under the National Programme for IT in the NHS, has failed.

Launched in 2002, the National Programme for IT in the NHS is an £11.4 billion programme of investment designed to reform how the NHS in England uses information to improve services and patient care. The Department of Health has spent £6.4 billion on the programme so far and confirms that it would take another £4.3 billion to complete the project, with no guarantee that the systems would be successful.

While the Committee acknowledges that the intention to create one of the largest health computer systems was a worthwhile aim, it was beyond the capacity of the Department of health and a lot of money has been wasted. 

It will now be left up to individual NHS Trusts to develop and procure IT systems to suit their own needs, raising further questions on interoperability in the NHS. Different parts of the country will now have different computer systems.

The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, said:

"The Department of Health is not going to achieve its original aim of a fully integrated care records system across the NHS. Trying to create a one-size-fits-all system in the NHS was a massive risk and has proven to be unworkable.

The Department has been unable to demonstrate what benefits have been delivered from the £2.7 billion spent on the project so far.”

The Committee has apportioned some of the blame to weak leadership in the Department of Health, with concerns that NHS Chief Executive, David Nicholson, has “not fully discharged his responsibilities as the Senior Responsible Owner for this project. This has resulted in poor accountability for project performance.”

Further fault lies with the suppliers contracted to fulfill the project. Despite having paid the suppliers £1.8 billion so far, the Department of Health has not recouped value for money. CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation) has failed to deliver the bulk of the systems it was contracted to supply leaving temporary systems in place as a stopgap, yet the Department concedes that it may be more expensive to terminate the contract than complete it. 

Telecommunications supplier, BT, has also failed to deliver according to its contract. PAC has reported that “BT is paid £9 million to implement systems at each NHS site, even though the same systems have been purchased for under £2 million by NHS organisations outside the Programme.”

In response, the Department was unable to explain how “wider health reforms will affect the future management and governance of the care records system, or what the likely financial implications will be for NHS trusts taking over contracts for care records system contracts.” As a result, the committee expects the Department to clarify exactly how the programme will be managed in the future, especially as key restructuring will be taking place in the NHS in the years to come. 

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