Delays hit NHS bookings trial

Fewer than 10 successful bookings have been made using the online hospital appointments system being developed by the National Programme for NHS IT (NPfIT) since its trials started in July, according to sources close to the project.

The web interface for the Choose and Book (CaB) system went live on 1 July but glitches in the 'data spine' at the heart of the £2.3bn programme have caused delays in the implementation of the ebooking application.

CaB is being tested at a small number of GP surgeries and is due to go live at the first four 'early adopter' sites towards the end of September.

Some problems are inevitable in a project of this size and complexity, say experts in the NHS.

'There have been delays but anyone who has been involved in a project where they are integrating different systems would be relatively relaxed at the moment,' Ray Wagner, head of booking in south-east London told Computing.

'The issues are partly because so many things have to be integrated - existing primary and secondary care systems, the spine and the CaB application all need to talk to each other, and it's not just the message moving across but also what it does when it gets there.

'The timetable may lose a few weeks here or there now, but this will still be ubiquitous in due course and I don't think people should be unduly concerned.'

The important thing is making sure the system works, says Wagner.

'It is better to take time now and get things right because we have to manage the expectations of clinicians and patients and so on. No matter how fast we develop the technology, the way the NHS interacts with it is the hard part, not the way the IT works,' he said.

A spokesman for NpfIT said: 'Progress is much as expected - with the usual daily teething problems and daily successes that come with such a large and complex programme. We intend to do this the right way; not rushing any part of the process.'

Spine supplier BT has already been fined by NPfIT for missed deadlines in the separate N3 network deal. Sources say the company is not being penalised for spine delays because there are other groups involved in its development, including the NPfIT Design Authority and CaB supplier Atos Origin.