NHS IT spending falls short of forecasts

Only a handful of doctors are using systems

The Department of Health has spent only around £1.2bn of the £5.1bn it forecast on paying contractors in the five regions of the National Programme for IT, according to official figures.

The outlay is so low largely because of the four-year delay in implementing electronic patient records and strict payment on delivery terms in the original contracts.

Spending on national systems such as the spine - which will store electronic patient records - the N3 broadband network, and the Choose and Book appointment booking system have adhered largely to spending forecasts.

But timetables on implementing electronic patient records in the five regions have slipped because of problems with the software, unsuccessful go-lives, and the departure of local service providers Accenture in the North East and East regions and Fujistu in the South region.

The Department of Health also released figures on how much it had spent implementing iSoft – one of the two patient records software packages – at earlier adopter trusts.

South Birmingham PCT, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust, and Five Boroughs Partnership NHS Trust spent £4.7m each on implementation.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust paid £8m.

Mike O'Brien, minister for the National Programme for IT, refused to be drawn by parliamentary questions on how many people he expected to be using patient record systems.

"Numbers of users will depend on progress achieved in deployment of the systems concerned by that date," he said.