29 October 2008

Que la Bête Meure

The National Health Service's £12.7 billion computer system is in doubt after its managers acknowledged that there will be further delays.

Connecting for Health, the NHS agency responsible for the world's biggest civil IT project, said it didn't have a clue when hospitals in England will start using the software that is required to keep track of patients' medical files.

Come on, put the beast out of its misery.

5 comments:

Dr. Roy Schestowitz said...

I'm sure they're happy about those "Microsoft savings".


Costs for the NHS National Programme for IT continue to escalate

,----[ Quote ]
| The cost of the NHS's National Programme for IT has risen dramatically.
| Questions in the House of Commons to the Minister of State for Health
| Services, Ben Bradshaw, published in Hansard on the 1st of September, appear
| to reveal that BT will now be paid £1bn for supplying the national data spine
| for the NPfT, rather than the originally contracted fee of £620m.
`----

http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/115822

How Healthy are the Views of the BCS?

,----[ Quote ]
| This is very worrying: if Britain's leading computing institution thinks that
| Internet Explorer is the acme of safe, fast, standards-based browsing, it
| could probably do with some healthcare itself.
`----

http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/blogs/index.cfm?en...

BCS to review NHS IT for Tories

,----[ Quote ]
| Shadow health secretary Stephen O'Brien MP has commissioned an independent
| report from the British Computer Society on what English health service IT
| should look like in five years' time.
|
| Beyond that patient-based records will form the basis of NHS informatics, no
| assumptions are being made, according the review's chair Dr Glyn Hayes, past
| chair of the BCS Health Informatics Forum.
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/22/bcs_nhs_it_review/

Chaos as £13bn NHS computer system falters

,----[ Quote ]
| A £13bn overhaul of the NHS records system has suffered so many problems that
| hospitals have struggled to keep track of people requiring operations,
| patients with suspected MRSA and potential cancer sufferers needing urgent
| consultations.
`----

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/aug/10/nhs.computersystem

Related:

NHS chief explains NPfIT delays

,----[ Quote ]
| The chief executive of the National Health Service has told MPs that
| complexity and customisation have been the main causes in delaying England's
| National Programme for IT.
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/17/nicholson_npfit_delays/

NHS IT 'at least four years late'

,----[ Quote ]
| It will be at least 2014 - four years later than planned - before a single
| NHS electronic patient records system is in place in England, say auditors.
`----

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7403286.stm

NHS IT loses its interim head

,----[ Quote ]
| The project threatens to be the world's largest ever public sector IT
| project. Provider Accenture withdrew from it in 2006 and another key partner,
| healthcare records provider iSoft, got stuck in a lengthy takeover battle
| before being bought by IBA in October 2007.
|
| The £12bn project is already running late and has struggled to win the hearts
| and minds of healthcare professionals.
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/10/npfit_loses_head/

UK Gov department's IT spend is £2 billion over budget

,----[ Quote ]
| THE DEPARTMENT for Work and Pensions has admitted the true cost over-runs of
| its IT projects.
`----

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/04/04/dwp-really-2bn...

Lawmaker blasts U.K. government on Microsoft policy

,----[ Quote ]
| "A member of Parliament of the United Kingdom has launched a stinging
| attack on the U.K. government's IT strategy, saying that it has given
| Microsoft too much control.
|
| John Pugh, who is a member of Parliament, or MP, for Southport and a
| member of the Public Accounts Committee, was speaking in an
| adjournment debate on Tuesday that he had called. The aim of the
| debate, he said, was to explore the alternatives to using Microsoft
| software, including open source."
|
| [...]
`----

http://www.news.com/Lawmaker-blasts-U.K.-government-on-Microsoft-poli...
http://tinyurl.com/2ashm2

Interview with Richard M. Stallman

,----[ Quote ]
| It is important to know this because we will always face pressure, from those
| who are powerful and would like to take away our freedom, to surrender our
| freedom—and they frequently offer us something attractive in exchange. For
| instance, B’liar wanted to abolish the Rights of Englishmen, and to serve his
| American master, Bush, faithfully; so he offered Britons “protection” from
| this or that, plus the imagined idea that he influences his master on their
| behalf through the “special relationship”.
`----

http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/interview_with_richard_s...

iSoft in critical condition as NHS trusts seek alternatives

,----[ Quote ]
| The government's vision of an integrated computer system for the
| NHS is coming apart at the seams as NHS trusts are to start looking
| for alternative IT suppliers, The Guardian reports.
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/05/nhs_upgrade_alt/

Microsoft in the NHS

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is one of the key technology firms in the £6.2 billion NHS
| IT programme. It is working particularly closely with iSOFT ...
`----

http://www.e-health-insider.com/comment_and_analysis/index.cfm?ID=69

Prescription for an I.T. Disaster?

,----[ Quote ]
| In 2002, the British government embarked on a $12 billion effort to
| transform its health-care system with information technology. But
| the country's oversight agency now puts that figure at $24 billion,
| and two Members of Parliament say the project is "sleepwalking
| toward disaster."
`----

http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,1540,2058194,00.asp

NHS computer boss failed IT exams

,----[ Quote ]
| Mary Granger is amazed that her son was put in charge of a £20bn
| project to transform the NHS's computer system. She is less
| surprised that his 'Connecting for Health' project is over-budget,
| behind schedule and threatening to become the biggest IT disaster
| in history.
`----

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35685

NHS Scotland pools budget for Microsoft savings

,----[ Quote ]
| NHS National Services Scotland forecasts it will save up to £8m over
| three years from a new procurement deal with Microsoft
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/30/scottish_nhs_microsoft_procur...

Accenture escapes £1bn penalty for NHS walk-out

,----[ Quote ]
| Accenture, the IT and consultancy firm has avoided huge penalty fees for
| withdrawing from the UK National Programme for IT (NPfIT).
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/29/accenture_nhs_penalty/

Accenture: NHS failure is 'track record for success'

,----[ Quote ]
| After months of negotiations, Accenture handed contracts worth £2bn over
| to rival Computer Sciences Corporation after getting paid just £110m
| for spending a third of the allotted 10 years on the job. Its hand had
| been forced by losses of $450m it was set to make on the deal this
| year.
`----

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/09/28/accenture_failure_success/

CfH refutes computer failure claims

,----[ Quote ]
| "Very often they are not major incidents as such, but could be caused when
| a patient administration system is running slow or there may be problems
| with the local network. The severity level is attributed by the user and
| this is subsequently very often down graded or amended."
|
| Many of the incidents that have been reported by CfH include failure of
| the systems used by surgeons to see X-ray pictures on a computer screen
| in wards and operating theatres. On some occasions the system is believed
| to have crashed during an operation, forcing surgeons to suspend the
| procedure while a hard copy of the X-ray is found.
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/19/cfh_defends_itself/

NHS Direct all better

,----[ Quote ]
| NHS Direct is back online this afternoon after going on the sick
| with a server error earlier today.
|
| According to Netcraft, the Windows 2000 server at the bargain
| basement hypochondriac magnet modern, accessible public healthcare
| resource was rebooted today. See here.
|
| Whatever malady did for the box, it was "unexpected", as the message
| on the site explained for most of today.
|
| NHS Direct was unavailable for comment at time of writing.
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/10/nhsdirect_back/

Glyn Moody said...

Thanks for the links - a staggering saga....that will be put to shame if they every try to implement ID cards....

Dr. Roy Schestowitz said...

Yes, I follow your writings on it.

Glyn Moody said...

I know, I know: one of the bees in my bonnet....

Anonymous said...

In a nut shell they will make us all broke. Keep well! p