Keywords
Citation
(2010), "UK - British Medical Association (BMA) attacks plans to scale back the National Health Service (NHS) IT programme", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 23 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2010.06223cab.008
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
UK - British Medical Association (BMA) attacks plans to scale back the National Health Service (NHS) IT programme
Article Type: News and views From: International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Volume 23, Issue 3
Keywords: NHS information technology systems, Patient safety improvement, Efficiency improvements, Patient health records, United Kingdom
The BMA has attacked plans to significantly scale back the £12 billion National Programme for IT, arguing that cutbacks will “waste money” and could impact on patient care.
The Chancellor Alistair Darling has announced that parts of the controversial scheme would be shelved in the pre-Budget Report, as the Treasury looks for savings to help reduce the budget deficit.
He said, “The NHS has had a quite expensive IT system that, frankly, isn’t essential to the front line. It’s something I think we don’t need to go ahead with just now”.
It remains unclear exactly which parts of the national programme will be affected. But Dr Grant Ingrams, chair of the GPC’s IT subcommittee, criticised the decision, arguing that savings would be better made elsewhere in the NHS.
The troubled NHS IT programme has been dogged by delays and rising costs, but the national deployment of the Summary Care Record took a leap forward last month when it was announced that six million patients across London will be given the chance to opt out of having a record created for them in the New Year.
Conservative shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley welcomed what he described as “Labour’s U-turn”.
“After seven years Labour have finally acknowledged what we’ve said for years, that the procurement for NHS IT was costing billions and not delivering”, he said. “The opportunity cost to the NHS also measures billions of pounds. This is another government IT procurement disaster – it just shows you can’t trust Labour on spending efficiency.”
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