Accenture saves up to cover NHS project losses

Supplier Accenture is setting aside money to protect against the ongoing losses of its two NHS National Programme contracts.

A total of $450m (£260m) is being held against ‘slower and lower future demand’, according to the firm’s financial statement for the second quarter of 2006.

Accenture is the local service provider (LSP) responsible for implementing national IT systems in two of the National Programme’s five regions. The company reported losses of £20m on the contracts this time last year and said they were unlikely to show a profit until 2007.

Last week Accenture said issues affecting revenue estimates included software development delays with its chief subcontractor, iSoft, and government policy changes, which mean LSPs will no longer be the sole provider of GP systems for their areas.

Connecting for Health (CfH), which runs the National Programme, says the deals are in the taxpayers’ best interests.

‘Under the terms of our contracts, suppliers do not get paid until they deliver, which demonstrates the strength of the contracts and the way they protect the NHS and the public purse,’ it said in a statement.

CfH also emphasised that CSC, the other LSP using iSoft, has 127 live deployments in its one area compared with the 73 in Accenture’s two regions.

But CSC has taken a different approach, according to Ovum analyst Tola Sargeant.

‘CSC started with more mental health and community trusts rather than concentrating on the big acute trusts,’ she said.

‘Maybe it will have more difficulties in the future because acute trusts require that much more functionality.’

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