Nicola Brittain, Computing, Monday 19 April 2010 at 09:54:00

Move is welcomed by the British Medical Association

One of the most controversial elements of the NPfIT, the Summary Care Records (SCR) system, has been suspended following industry criticism of a rushed implementation.

The SCR system was criticised by the British Medical Association (BMA) last month in a letter to health minister Mike O’Brien. The letter said there were some privacy concerns around the scheme and that patients should be able to "opt out" if they wanted.

Dr Grant Ingrams, chairman of the BMA’s GP IT committee, said that the move to suspend the SCR system was a positive one.

“We welcome the decision to suspend uploads. Summary Care Records have the potential to improve healthcare for patients if implemented appropriately. We will work with government in future to ensure that the many concerns of patients and doctors are listened to and addressed.”

The Department of Health (DoH0 said the rollout would be delayed until there was better awareness of the scheme.

Separately, the government recently signed an NPfIT contract with BT locking the next government into a contract that will see the delivery of the NPfIT reduced in scale. Chief executive of NHS London Ruth Carnall said: “The deal means [the NPfIT] will no longer provide the comprehensive solution anticipated in 2003.”

BT will be paid about £900m, the original contract had been for £1bn.

Public sector analyst for Ovum Mike Davis explained that the contract actually affords flexibility. "NHS trusts in London can now choose their own software and an alternative supplier if they want to,” he said.

Although choosing their own provider will cost individual trusts money upfront, some, such as Ipswich, have opted to choose their own software and system integrator to implement an Electronic Patient Records (EPR) system because they believe it would be more cost-efficient in the long run.

The EPR means that the region's hospitals’ billing systems are more efficient, thereby guaranteeing payment from their Primary Care Trust.

Although the Tories have said they would look to dismantle the NPfIT, Ovum's Davis argued that in reality there will be no official dismantling of the NPfIT because so many parts are up and running – however, elements of it may begin to start unravelling over time as more trusts begin to choose their own software and system integrator.

“My advice to any new government is to leave the NHS and the NPfIT alone. Coping with the changes [caused by the NPfIT] has been incredibly difficult for the health service – there are so many fiefdoms and hierarchies within the NHS that change has to be managed very carefully.”

Tom Young, Computing, Friday 11 September 2009 at 16:30:00

ContactPoint, the NHS National Programme for IT, and identity cards should be axed

The ContactPoint children's database, the NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT), and the identity cards scheme,should all be abolished, according to a plan to save £50bn a year of public spending put forward by the Institute of Directors and the TaxPayers' Alliance.

The report claims that abolishing ContactPoint would save £44m from 2010-11 onwards, the annual running costs of the database.

"Given the government’s appalling data security record, the children’s database is

an accident waiting to happen. It should be abolished," says the report.

Scrapping NPfIT will save £1.2bn a year, says the report, because it was never wanted by most NHS clinicians; it is running late; has unresolved issues over patient confidentiality; and it is too expensive.

Abolishing identity cards would save £55m from 2010-11 onwards, which represents the Identity and Passport Service’s (IPS) estimate of the gross costs

of providing ID cards to British and Irish citizens in 2010-11. The figure does not include the cost of biometric passports.

"Even if we accept the government’s own cost projections, abolishing the [ID cards] programme will still save up to £1.3bn over the next decade," says the report.

The Conservatives have promised to abolish identity cards and have proposed alternatives to the summary care record which is the main expense of the NPfIT. They have also heavily criticised ContactPoint.

Miles Templeman, director general of the Institute of Directors, said cuts desperately need to be made.

"Businesses are right now making savings and cutting back on costs to get through the recession, and there is no reason why the public sector should not have to do the same," he said.

Computing, Computing, Thursday 3 September 2009 at 07:30:00

Entries to the all-new UK IT Industry Awards 2009 show that IT innovation is still going strong

Forget economic indicators. Ignore for now the fact that UK hardware spending is the lowest since records began. If you need a shot in the arm to show the true health of the UK IT profession, then take a long, slow read through the list of finalists for the all-new UK IT Industry Awards 2009, from the BCS and Computing.

The roll call of leading organisations, individuals and technologies up for a prize this year demonstrates that excellence, quality and customer satisfaction are thriving in the technology community.

We genuinely expected to struggle when encouraging entries to this year’s awards ­ but the reality could not have been more different. IT budgets may be shrinking, IT departments may, sadly, have a few more empty desks than they did this time last year, but in perhaps the most difficult economic environment many have known, there is no shortage of innovation.

The finalists prove that for those organisations looking to beat the recession and be more competitive, efficient and flexible once the downturn is over, IT remains central to their success.

Our congratulations to all the shortlisted entries, and good luck for the final round of the process in what promises to be a set of difficult decisions for our judges.

NHS IT still innovating

The NHS is one area that has not been short of cash for IT investment, regardless of the wider economy. But so much of that money has been tied up in the £12.7bn National Programme for IT (NPfIT), that many NHS IT leaders have faced a new set of challenges to keep innovating and delivering technology to improve healthcare. That so many have been able to drive IT-enabled change while keeping up with the controversies and complications of NPfIT is a great reflection of their skills and determination. When, eventually, the national applications are rolled out, the combination with local IT innovation is a cause for optimism for the future of technology in the health service.