News  

The attack, which echoes many of the complaints made by health professionals, came in a report issued this week by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Committee chairman and MP Edward Leigh (Conservative) said: 'The programme is not looking good. Scepticism is rife among the NHS clinicians whose commitment is essential to its success.'

The programme was established in 2002, started operation in 2004 and is supposed to last 10 years. However, as the report pointed out, it is already in trouble and is damaging the reputation of the DoH.

The report declares: 'The DoH has much to do to win hearts and minds in the NHS, especially among clinicians. It must show it can deliver on its promises (and) respond constructively to feedback from users in the NHS.'

It adds that the system is unlikely to show 'significant benefits' before 2014. It currently only works in limited areas and the software on which the system was supposed to be based, is at least three years overdue. Meanwhile, costs have risen astronomically and are now estimated to be around £12 billion.

Despite the investment, support has drained away alarmingly - particularly among GPs.

The report said that GPs were unhappy, because they were not given a choice over which IT system would be supplied to them.

Read the full story

What do you think? Comment below or email us at healthcare.republic@haymarket.com