Unhealthy attacks damage NHS IT

There is still a long way to go for NPfIT

The latest National Audit Office (NAO) report into the £12bn NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT) contained something for everyone.

For the critics, electronic patient records are four years behind schedule.

For supporters, other key projects are on track and the overall goals of the programme remain achievable.

Credit to the NAO for a balanced and realistic overview.

Too many of the attacks on NPfIT assume that IT projects either work perfectly or fail completely. But the bigger the programme, the more shades of grey there are. It would have been a miracle if the technology had been rolled out without anything going wrong.

Mistakes have been made and lessons learned ­– although some lessons took a long time to learn. But every time one project succeeds it builds confidence among doctors and nurses.

Despite the natural concerns among NHS trusts over a national system imposed from the centre, there is no shortage of innovation continuing at a local level ­ – as demonstrated by Barts Hospital’s WiFi-enabled emergency room.

But there is still a long way to go for NPfIT, and there are only two certainties. First, there will be more problems ­ – that should be assumed as an inevitability, with contingencies in place. Second, an IT-led revolution in healthcare is essential and the NHS will not function in the long term without technology innovation.

Summing up

Back to school moment: Take one three-year contract for Microsoft to provide software to schools, add one complaint to the EU claiming anti-competitive licensing by Microsoft in the education market, and divide by an £80m framework agreement with open source software suppliers for UK schools, and what do you get?

Unless Microsoft resolves its disagreement with education IT agency Becta, you get your children using open source software in schools by 2012.