The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7315 p303
4 September 2004

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News summary

NHS IT plans to be investigated by National Audit Office

The National Audit Office (NAO), is to investigate whether the English National Programme for IT (NPfIT) will be value for money for the NHS.

The NPfIT is to create an electronic infrastructure for the NHS that is intended to improve patient care by increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of clinicians and other NHS staff. Key elements are:

• Electronic transmission of prescriptions
• Shareable electronic patient records
• Online booking of hospital appointments
• Feedback on quality of care
• Storing and distributing digital diagnostic images
• Ensuring that IT infrastructure meets current and future needs.

The Government has allocated £2.3bn to be spent over the three financial years up to 2005–06. The total value of contracts that have already been awarded (which cover a period of seven to 10 years) is £6.2bn.

Contracts for the major IT systems making up the national system were placed earlier this year. The NAO intends to examine the procurement processes used for placing the contracts, to decide whether the contracts are likely to deliver good value for money and to examine how the Department of Health is implementing the programme.

IT consultant and pharmacist Ian Shepherd said that the audit was to be welcomed.“I don’t believe that that NPfIT has anything to fear from an audit,” he said. “While there is not a lot of information available about how the contracts were procured, I am confident that everything has been done correctly and any potential conflicts of interest have been properly managed. If the national programme fails to deliver, it will not be down to the procurement process. But there will always be a risk that the technology will not deliver or that some professional group might boycott the system.”

The audit report is expected to be published next summer.