NHS computer project troubled by more delays

The multibillion-pound national programme to overhaul the NHS's computer systems is likely to suffer further delays and turmoil after a contract with a key supplier was terminated. The National Programme for IT, parts of which are running four years late, aims to create a single electronic records system for 50 million patients in England, as well as to enable electronic prescriptions and other electronic services. But negotiations have broken down with Fujitsu, which had been due to implement the plan in the South of England from Kent to Cornwall.

The company, one of three regional contractors in control of the project, is the second big "local service provider" to withdraw from the project in three years, after the departure of the consultancy firm Accenture in 2006.

Negotiations to "reset" the company's œ896 million, ten-year contract have been under way since last July, and although the cost of the contract had escalated to more than œ1 billion, a deal had seemed likely as recently as last week. But NHS officials believe that the Japanese board of Fujitsu intervened, fearing that its potential losses could be much greater than its directors had forecast.

Connecting for Health, the agency that oversees the programme, said that it would issue a termination notice to Fujitsu, a move that could cost the Japanese-owned services company an estimated 340 million pounds.

The project, now in its sixth year, has come in for repeated criticism over delays and fears for the security of patient information. But tough contracts have so far kept it broadly within its estimated budget of œ12.7 billion. However, contractors will be paid only when services are delivered and working.

Fujitsu earned 256 million pounds in 2006-07 for its work on the project, but it was the provider with the most outstanding payments due to it, and in some cases had not been paid more than 12 months after systems had been delivered.

The company is understood to have wanted either more money to provide additional local services or a return to the original, more limited, contract obligations. The Department of Health said yesterday that it terminated Fujitsu's involvement "with regret" because it had not been possible to reach an agreement over this.

In a statement, Fujitsu said that it had withdrawn from negotiations as it did not feel that there was any prospect of an acceptable conclusion.

Stephen O'Brien, the Conservative health spokesman, said that the Government's attempts to "ram through a top-down, centralised, one-size-fits-all NHS computer system" had come "crashing down around its ears".

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Australia: Too bad if you need "elective" surgery

Almost 2700 Queenslanders who had elective surgery at a public hospital last financial year waited more than a year before they had their operation. And those patients needing surgery for painful hip, knee and varicose vein conditions had among the longest delays, a report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says. The new data follows the release of the State Government's own figures this month indicating its elective surgery waiting lists have blown out by 15 per cent in less than three years.

Doctors recently warned the already long queues to get into operating theatres could worsen soon, with Queensland Health now forcing some of the state's top surgeons to take their backlog of holidays. And Health Minister Stephen Robertson was under pressure again earlier this week after revelations cancer patients were waiting up to three times longer for life-saving treatment than they should be at some of the state's biggest hospitals.

But the AIHW report, to be released on Friday, May 30, revealed Queensland had among the shortest waiting times in the country for elective surgery at a public hospital in the 2006-07 financial year. The report found half of the state's 108,000 public hospital elective surgery patients that year waited 25 days or less for their operation - a better result than any other state. Only 10 per cent of Queensland patients still had not been seen by a surgeon after 142 days. Nationally, half of all elective surgery patients waited 32 days or longer and another 10 per cent had yet to be admitted for surgery after 226 days.

The AIHW report found the surgery delays varied widely depending on the type of operation. In Queensland, public hospital patients needing treatment for varicose veins faced the longest queues, with only half getting their operation within 77 days and 10 per cent still waiting after two years and 40 days. There also were backlogs for Queenslanders needing knee replacements - with half of those patients waiting 74 days or longer and 10 per cent still not seen after 343 days.

Patients wanting hip replacements in the state's public hospitals also fared badly, with only half of those patients going to hospital within two months and 10 per cent still waiting after 245 days. Nationally, orthopaedic and ear, nose and throat surgery were the specialties with the highest proportion of patients facing delays of more than a year for surgery. There were 7.6 million hospital admissions for the year.

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