Consultancy Accenture is being replaced in its £2bn contracts with the £6bn National Programme for NHS IT.

After weeks of speculation the supplier will continue only those parts of its responsibility relating to electronic x-ray systems. All other work on upgrading hospital and GP systems across two of the five regions of the programme will be taken over by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) from 8 January next year.

Accenture's East and North East regions will add to CSC's existing role as main systems integrator for the North West and West Midlands area.

Accenture will retain £110m of the £173m it has already been paid by the NHS. The value of CSC's new business is equivalent to the £1,965m which Accenture would have earned under its contracts, says Connecting for Health, the government agency responsible for running the programme.

What do you think? Email us at: feedback@computing.co.uk

Further reading:

Tougher tests still lie ahead for NHS IT

BT confirms NHS subcontractor switch

NHS supplier iSoft reports major loss