Interview: Martin Bellamy, head of NHS Connecting for Health

Bellamy runs the programme to overhaul NHS IT

“My starting point is the modernisation and service improvement agenda and the fundamental role of IT systems as an enabler of that modernisation,” says Martin Bellamy head of NHS Connecting for Health (CfH) and director of programme and systems delivery at the Department of Health.

'I have been here for six months now and what has impressed me greatly is the level of engagement and commitment in the trusts for that agenda. There is no sense of the IT systems being forced on them; these real leaders of the NHS are driving the IT opportunities forward. I've been really encouraged to see the ambitions of the NHS and the drive and pace that exists for rolling out the systems. People in the NHS understand that IT is what will enable delivery on of the Lord Darzi vision."

Bellamy plans to draw on examples of how the systems which have already been delivered in the NHS are helping real people.

One such example is the North West Strategic Health Authority, which has implemented the Map of Medicine – the NHS visualisation of the ideal, evidence-based patient journey for common and important conditions. Its contribution to patients can be shown in the case, for instance, of a person who is losing their sight and requires rapid treatment. From the trigger point - the first diagnosis - the patient should be treated within four weeks.

In practice this often takes longer. The Map of Medicine helps by showing who should be doing what, when interventions should happen, and how the workflow should function, making a significant difference in ensuring rapid and therefore successful treatment.

“We often focus on the aspects of the NHS National Programme for IT that are behind schedule,” says Bellamy.

“But we need to remind people of our progress. As I've travelled around the NHS, I have heard many people talking about what things were like before the National Programme. IT was fragmented. Trusts were served by smaller suppliers, which meant ambitions for modernisation were often thwarted. While we still have a long way to go, we have many of the foundations in place for making that modernisation happen," he says.

"Across the NHS there is widespread support for local decision-making, but some things have to be done once and done centrally- N3, the Spine, NHS email systems, PACS [Picture archiving and communication system], Choose & Book, electronic prescriptions - they were all complex programmes which have been delivered successfully and centrally. Not enough credit is given to their achievements. These programmes show what can be done."

Bellamy made clear that the priority for CfH over the next 12 months will be the deployment of care record systems in the acute sector. The N3 and Spine are already in place, and the challenge is to get the systems into large, acute hospitals. The widely publicised problems with the Cerner implementation in the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust and the publishing of the Public Accounts Committee report in January highlighted the delays in implementing these systems.

“The top priority for the next 12 months is to demonstrate that acute systems - Cerner and Lorenzo - can be deployed over the next year in large, complex hospital trusts and provide value to patients and clinicians,” says Bellamy.

"We need to be able to show examples of the systems working normally. To achieve this challenging objective, we need to work closely with suppliers and the NHS hospitals which are the earlier adopters. Collaboration has always been a big theme in my career - achieving a working partnership is fundamental to success. The scale of the challenge is massive and we need excellent team work - pulling together - to get it done," he says.

“I also expect to talk about our aspirations beyond the next 12 months - how to put many of the basic building blocks to work. In a year's time I believe we will be realising benefits and deploying new systems as a matter of routine. We will be working with NHS organisations in a systematic way so that any deployment of systems is fully prepared for. People will understand the timescales, what people need to be involved, what the training requirements are in organisations. We will have learnt lessons from earlier deployments so that every deployment is not being done as if for the first time. We will have established a rhythm of delivery.

“In parallel with our focus on delivering the care record system, we will also be supporting the delivery of Lord Darzi's roadmap - making sure we are achieving what was promised. Connecting For Health is providing enablers which will enable the objectives of Lord Darzi's work to happen. So that the aim of creating personalised care is supported by, for example, Lorenzo's ability to provide individual care records.”

This article was first published in the BCS magazine HI Now. Martin Bellamy will be speaking on service delivery and NHS CfH’s future projects on 29 April at the HC 2009 conference in Harrogate.