Hung parliament threatens to delay IT-driven efficiencies in the NHS

Former Department of Health IT supremo says a hung parliament would hinder much-needed reform

Swindells believes health trusts will continue to invest in new technology to improve efficiency

A hung parliament would hamper big and necessary cost cuts within the health service, said former Department of Health CIO Matthew Swindells at the BCS HC2010 conference in Birmingham yesterday.

Swindells, who worked as CIO for the Department of Health between 2007 and 2008 and is currently working as chairman for BCS Health, said that only a government with a strong majority will have the nerve to make the massive changes required to cut costs and drive efficiency.

He said these changes include making information on hospital performance available to the public online.

“This will rattle people working within the NHS whose view of the public harks back to the 1950," Swindells said. “There is a paternalistic attitude within some parts of the NHS that the public will not understand information if they are presented with it, this has got to change.”

Swindells explained how making every hospital's results transparent and readily available online would help cut costs. If a local hospital is failing by comparison with a another hospital in the same area, and it is clear to a community that this is the case, then it would make sense to merge the hospitals and let the more successful hospital run both premises, he said. Failing units could be closed and the trust could make considerable staff cuts.

“Although publicly both main political parties seem to be in denial regarding the scale of the cuts required, in private they are aware of it, and are preparing to make tough and unpopular decisions,” said Swindells.

Although suppliers within the health informatics community are anxious about whether Trusts will be willing to invest in new solutions, as they currently look reluctant to spend money, Swindells argued they should be optimistic as those seriously looking to increase efficiency will also invest in new technology.

He cites a presentation given by Professor Dennis Protti from the University of Victoria, Canada, during the opening session of the show, titled The Digital Revolution. This detailed substantial benefits to healthcare seen by the Veterans' Health Administration in the US as a result of investment in technology.

The Veterans' Health Administration is a private health service for veterans with 1,400 “sites of care, 5.3 million patients and 8 million enrollees.

Following substantial investment in back-room informatics and IT, including the creation of an electronic care records system – implemented from 2003 onwards – the administration has reduced its staff by 10,000 on 1995 figures, and has increased the number of patients treated by 105 per cent.

In a paper published in the journal Health Affairs Vol 29, April 2010, the author C Byrne said: “The potential value of the VA’s health IT investments is estimated at $3.09bn in cumulative benefits net of investment costs.”