Delays and additional costs in Scotland's NHS 24 IT system down to 'systematic failure around programme governance'
...and costs are to increase yet again, says NHS 24
Scotland's NHS 24 IT system has suffered delays and additional costs because of a systematic failure around programme governance, a damning report to the Scottish government's Public Audit Committee (PAC) has found.
In a written submission to the committee, NHS 24 said that it regretted that the programme had yet to be successfully delivered and added that it "fully accepted responsibility for the organisational, financial and reputational risks that have been realised as a consequence".
But while the auditor general for Scotland said that costs had spiralled to £117.4m in October, NHS 24 claimed that the overrun of £41.6m was down to "double running costs" (£11.7m), additional implementation costs (£8m), as well as an increase in design and contract costs (£21.9m).
"The main reason for the increase relates to additional double running costs and the costs associated with preparing for the relaunch in 2016," NHS 24 admitted. It said that the overall systematic failure around programme governance was the root cause of delays and additional costs.
And the cost overruns don't look like they will be entirely brought under control, with costs expected to increase again by as much as £7.6m. "None of the governance put in place by either NHS 24 or the Scottish government has served to mitigate the substantial risks carried by this programme," said the PAC.
NHS 24 said that it "underestimated the risk of developing an ambitious next-generation system and bringing it to market".
It continued: "Consequently, the original business case was inadequate, the programme governance ineffective, commercial management was weak, too much reliance was put on suppliers' promises, and the organisation had insufficient understanding of call-centre system implementation to successfully launch."
It added that services partner Capgemini had failed to meet its commitment to supply a working solution in 2013, and that this "manifested these weaknesses".
The PAC concluded: "Not only have the different programme boards and committees failed to identify and manage the risks; the various audits and reviews have also proved ineffective in recovering the programme."