NHS IT plan not to blame for delays

Late delivery of ebookings unrelated to technology

Delays in NHS electronic bookings are down to competing health service priorities and political issues over the government’s choice agenda, not the technology programme, says NHS IT director general Richard Granger.

Fewer than 18,000 GP referrals have been made through the Choose & Book system, despite a target of 205,000 by December 2004. NHS chief executive Sir Nigel Crisp said last week the plan is 12 months behind schedule.

But in an exclusive interview with Computing, Granger denied responsibility for the slow progress, saying the Connecting for Health central technology programme is not the problem.

All the delivery targets for the core application have been met and the responsibility of upgrading hospital systems lies with local trusts, he says.

‘The fuss is about things outside my control, such as putting hundreds of thousands of hospital appointments on the system in a standardised format, and the local NHS doing the upgrade activity at the hospital end,’ Granger told Computing.

‘One reason this is a challenge is the number of priorities in the health service already, such as waiting time targets and hospital hygiene targets. People have made prioritisation decisions.’

There are also issues with GPs’ resistance to the choice agenda that the system enables, which offers patients a choice of appointment options.

‘There have been some configuration problems, service availability issues, and a series of user requirements which emerged subsequent to the launch, but low usage is not something I can do anything about,’ said Granger.

‘With time, choice will become part of the landscape, but it is a massive cultural change. Some doctors welcome it and some doctors don’t.’

These issues can only be resolved by Department of Health director of access Margaret Edwards and the policymakers, he says.