Darling to shelve NHS IT system

[joey122]

It's about time all large Govt IT contracts that required custom implementation were stopped - it should work the old school way: a private company develops a system at its own expense and then markets it to all sort of buyers: any failures of the system is responsibility of the firm.

Totally agree - Goverment cannot do IT projects without getting fleeced

Seriously what were they thinking when they decided to spend 12 billion??

I d set up a website in a month for 15k!!!

Each surgery can buy their own god dman computer and hook it up to the web.

Bottom line is though I feel sorry for all those with NHS backgrounds who are going to be sitting on the bench for a long time or having to take a 50% pay cut

Get used to it

[AtW]

Seriously what were they thinking when they decided to spend 12 billion??

Cushy non-executive jobs in respective firms that won the tender?

Or maybe they were just incompetent

[RichardCranium]

Or maybe they were just incompetent

As I have heard many times from those inside NPfIT (not one of whom has ever worked outside the NHS):

"We're the NHS, we're different. Did you know we are the second largest organisation in the world, second only to the Chinese Red Army? This means we need different ways of working from everyone else. What you think of as 'best practice' does not apply to us. But you wouldn't understand, you're only in IT."

[TheFaQQer]

As I have heard many times from those inside NPfIT (not one of whom has ever worked outside the NHS):

"We're the NHS, we're different. Did you know we are the second largest organisation in the world, second only to the Chinese Red Army? This means we need different ways of working from everyone else. What you think of as 'best practice' does not apply to us. But you wouldn't understand, you're only in IT."

I always thought that they were second after the North Korean army? That's what I was told when Oracle won their contract with the NHS.

[pzz76077]

Sais that the NHS are only the worlds 6th biggest employer here: http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/health...-200908193991/

Also, given that they are probably going to spend another 70Bn on the system over the next few years, this is not my idea of shelving a system.

Lets see what happens to the suppliers share price in the morning.....potentially a more accurate indicator than gov spin...

PZZ

[oracleslave]

Sais that the NHS are only the worlds 6th biggest employer here:

This is the article I recall

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle1050197.ece

when they were 3rd biggest and yes it was the Chinese army that was referred to.

[AtW]

when they were 3rd biggest and yes it was the Chinese army that was referred to.

And the 2nd one was presumably ze Soviet Armee?

[HairyArsedBloke]

You mean they should speculate on the success of their venture?

It's not speculation when one invests long term into creating a product and then selling it in full or in parts.

So risking capital for a long and undefind period of time for a undefined and possibly non-existent pay-off is NOT speculation.

However, when I, say, take a position in euro FX futures with a predefined stop loss and profit targets, and duration expectations (in my case minutes); that is speculation.

[Mr.Whippy]

Seriously what were they thinking when they decided to spend 12 billion??

They were thinking they'd get away from hospitals/surgeries/etc having disparate, incompatible systems and get something that worked nationally and allowed clinicians across the country access to information/images in seconds they wouldn't normally have. This can lead to improved healthcare and potentially save lives.. i.e. you live in Devon, get hit by a bus in Newcastle, they'd be able to see any prescription medicine you're on which may have an affect on the treatment that you need receive..... There are many benefits, unfortunately the programme is just a little too ambitious imo.

I d set up a website in a month for 15k!!!

Yeah, because all the NPfIT needs to store the medical records of 65 million plus people, 700 million prescriptions annually, tens of millions of x-ray/ultrasound/etc images, choose and book, RIS, PACS, EPS, etc etc is a LAMP server.....

Each surgery can buy their own god dman computer and hook it up to the web.

great idea... I'd love to have my medical records "hooked up to the web". I really don't think letting all the trusts go off and do their own thing is a great idea.

[AtW]

Yeah, because all the NPfIT needs to store the medical records of 65 million plus people, 700 million prescriptions annually, tens of millions of x-ray/ultrasound/etc images, choose and book, RIS, PACS, EPS, etc etc is a LAMP server.....

ZOMG so much data!

This is not 80s ffs, if a small company like ours can find way to store web graph with trillions of edges in it, then surely given 10000 times more resources it is possible to do this very simple NHS database?

What NHS should have done is develop a fairly simple spec with API and a set of tests to verify if software complies with it. *Any* company that pass the test should qualify for final decision.

I'd do it for £10 mln or less (plus hardware costs but they will be minimally required, ie: good redundant central servers and client PCs with internet connections).