Millions more wanted to back NHS IT roll out

The Department of Health (DoH) wants extra funding to help pay the local implementation costs of the £2.3bn NHS National Programme for IT.

The DoH is asking for hundreds of millions of pounds to cover costs not included National Programme budget, senior sources told Computing.

The £2.3bn pays for the three core applications and the next-generation national broadband network. But it does not cover costs such as upgrading local infrastructure and providing time off for clinicians to be trained.

The request is part of DoH's submission to the Treasury for the next round of departmental Spending Reviews, due to be published this summer.

Insiders expect the Treasury to agree to the extra funds, given the political pressure for the National Programme to succeed. The money will be in addition to the £80m already earmarked for implementation, which experts agree to be grossly insufficient.

'The National Programme has changed the procurement landscape, shaken up the marketplace and is a huge part of taking forward the modernisation of the NHS, ' said North Bristol NHS Trust IT director Martin Bell.

'But it stopped short of the implementation - which is the hardest part.

'It is difficult to implement complex clinical systems into complex clinical environments but that was the bit that was not funded. If we are going to get additional funding for that, from a central pot, that is excellent news,' he said.

Extra funds for NHS Trusts is a positive step for the success of the plan, says Laurence Harrison, healthcare programme manager at supplier trade body Intellect.

'But what is slightly puzzling is why this hasn't been mentioned before and the NHS has been left to ponder how they will find the money to fund this issue,' he said.

Of the £80m already committed for implementation, £40m is expected to be generated by the re-negotiation of existing NHS contracts with suppliers who are now part of the National Programme.