The Conservative Party has questioned the future of the multi-billion pound NHS IT programme following the decision by consultants Accenture to pull out and called for a ‘full zero based review of the programme’ by the National Audit Office.

Shadow health minister Stephen O'Brien said the decision by Accenture posed ‘embarrassing questions for Patricia Hewitt about the future of the NHS IT programme’

‘If Accenture are willing to cut their losses, that seriously undermines confidence in the whole programme, he said.

He also slammed the government's for its ‘failure to ensure that its Connecting for Health programme consulted widely enough and fully engaged users in the design and implementation’ and questioned if CSC had the capacity to take over the project.

O’Brien said the spotlight was now back on troubled software developer iSoft, Accenture's sub-contractor, which is already under investigation by the FSA over its accounting policies.