Massive Delay For NHS Record System

6:12am UK, Friday May 16, 2008

A new electronic system for NHS patients' records will not be introduced before 2014 at the earliest - four years later than planned.

The government is spending £12.7bn on the IT programme, which will create a centralised electronic medical record system for 50 million patients.

An online "choose and book" system for booking hospital appointments is also being developed, along with an electronic prescriptions service and fast network links between NHS organisations.

A public spending watchdog has slammed the "serious delays" in applying new software for the National Programme for IT in the NHS, saying the Government had underestimated the challenges involved.

In a progress report, the National Audit Office concluded that while all elements of the programme were progressing, the original timescales for the key Care Records Service were "unachievable".

In particular, the software planned for the North, Midlands and East areas, called Lorenzo, has taken much longer than planned, forcing some trusts to take an interim system, the report found.

The NHS IT programme has come in for repeated criticism, including from committees of MPs, over the delays as well as fears over the security of patient information.

But in March this year, the Government defended the system, insisting it could produce more than a billion pounds in savings by 2014.

According to a survey by the Department of Health last year, 67% of nurses and 62% of doctors expected the new systems to improve patient care.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, GP negotiator with responsibility for IT, said: "It is clear from the NAO report that the setting of unrealistic deadlines has been very damaging to National Programme for IT.

"Slipping deadlines for new IT systems and the premature release of systems that are not fit for purpose has been deeply frustrating for NHS staff, leaving many doctors thoroughly disillusioned with the programme."

He said staff would only be confident in the system if progress became more transparent, and added that the public needed to be informed about electronic patient records.