You are here: Home > Parliament > NHS IT >110 incidents caused by NPfIT systems

NHS computers cause 110 major incidents: MP demands rethink

---

A member of the Commons public accounts committee has called on the government to reconsider the future of its controversial national programme for IT in the NHS, following a report that the programme has led to 110 major incidents at hospitals across England in the last four months.

Richard Bacon MP, a member of the public accounts committee, commented after a report in Computer Weekly that 110 major incidents have occurred at hospitals across England during the last four months, after parts of the health service went live with systems supplied under the £12.4 billion national programme for IT in the NHS.

Mr Bacon said: “This is the latest evidence that there are serious and growing problems with the whole national programme for IT in the health service. In some cases NHS staff and clinicians have lost access to their main hospital systems. More than 20 major incidents have affected multiple NHS sites. In many respects the NHS IT programme is making things worse not better, while sowing distrust and disillusionment across the health service.

“It is now time the government reconsidered its approach. It would be more sensible to slim down the programme and to give control of purchasing to hospital chief executives locally, subject to common standards. The tragedy is that if the NHS continues on its present course, a huge amount of money will be spent and much of it will be wasted”.

Mr Bacon recently obtained an admission from health secretary Patricia Hewitt that the Department of Health had made £82 million in advance payments to iSoft, the troubled software company which is supplying three fifths of the national programme.

 19 September 2006

---