Key elements of the £6bn National Programme for NHS IT (NPfIT) will remain a top priority regardless of wider health service financial problems, says NHS IT director general Richard Granger.
There are concerns within the NHS that local IT budgets will be cut in the face of job losses or even ward closures.
But NHS acting chief executive Sir Ian Carruthers is fully behind the programme and the investments that are necessary to make it work, says Granger.
NPfIT’s core components are a secure national network and information spine underpinning electronic bookings, prescriptions and patient records. It also includes smartcard access and Picture Archiving and Communications (Pacs) digital X-ray systems.
The budget for the 10-year central contracts is guaranteed. But some of the associated costs, including hardware upgrades, smartcard registration and parts of Pacs implementation, will be borne locally.
‘Ian Carruthers has a very strong commitment to make sure we do not waiver in the things we have said we want to do,’ Granger told Computing.
‘He is encouraging completion of the business case approval process for Pacs, issuance of smartcards and completion of the order process for the last 5,000 circuits of the N3 network.
‘We will still need to demonstrate why people should do this, but I don’t have a sense of the NHS losing its nerve,’ he said.
According to the original plan, electronic patient record pilots were due at the end of the year. Despite some early technical difficulties, the spine being developed by BT is back on track and the current expectation is for pilots to start early next year.
But this depends on decisions from the clinical community on governance issues such as what data is held on the national summary record, says Granger.
‘Summary patient record activity will happen six to 12 months after we get a consolidated set of requirements following extended consultation with stakeholders,’ he said.
‘The framework is in place. When we get to the specifics of how to code the system we need further clarity around the consensual position of the end user community.’
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