Hot on the heels of Fujitsu’s £700m compensation claim from the NHS comes news that the government could demand Fujitsu pay £500m following the supplier’s withdrawal from the NPfIT.
Source: Computerworld
The Chief Executive of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust has warned that claims for compensation because of problems with the National Programme for IT [NPfIT] may fail because the contract is between the Secretary of State and Local Service Providers such as BT and CSC.
Source: Computer Weekly
According to Computer Weekly the Conservatives have commissioned a British Computer Society board member to head an independent review of NHS IT.
The review chairman, Glyn Hayes, said the excercise will inform Conservative policy on the future of use of IT in the NHS but will not assess current problems with NPfIT.
The Department for Health is advising local NHS trusts to acquire their own interim IT systems rather than waiting for the rollout of national systems under the NPfIT.
Trusts will have to have plans approved by the government, and are advised to work with NHS Connecting for Health to ensure the interim systems integrate with NPfIT technology in the future.
This advice is included in the recently published Health Informatics Review.
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According to Computer Weekly, the Treasury has hired Martin Read, former chief executive of Logica, to provide insight into the government’s record of over-spending on IT projects.
Read will review the public sector’s £13bn annual spend on IT projects in an attempt to improve success rates.
According to industry experts, numerous IT projects have gone over-budget under the Labour government, costing the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds.
There is increasing pressure to review the effectiveness of the NPfIT, following Fujitsu’s withdrawal as a service provider.
Despite a delay of four years David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, told MP’s he had no regrets about rejecting calls for an independent review of the £12.7bn National Programme for IT (NPfIT)
Source: Computer Weekly
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Following Fujitsu’s decision to withdraw from the NPfIT, disaffected Trusts in the south of England want to pick their own IT suppliers according to an article in the Guardian.
This may lead NHS Connecting for Health to decide not appoint a replacement for Fujitsu as the southern regional contractor.
The failing NHS’s National Programme for IT is looking for two leaders to run the programme offering salaries of £200,000 a year.
Richard Granger, director general for the programme, left the job in January. It has been decided to create 2 new positions - a chief information officer for health and a director of IT programme and system delivery.
Source: Computer Weekly
Another severe blow was dealt to the NHS’s National Programme for IT following the collapse of negotiations with Fujitsu, which provides IT services across the South of England.
After 10 months of negotiations Fujitsu pulled out of contract “re-set” discussions with NHS Connecting for Health over its £896m contract.
The Royal Berkshire NHS Trust is considering leaving the £12.4 billion National Programme for IT to choose its own patient record systems following Fujitsu’s recent decision to leaver the programme, according to CIO Magazine