Health minister Ben Bradshaw has said despite ongoing delays new Lorenzo and Millennium software will be delivered to NHS sites this summer.
Replying to a parliamentary question the minister also confirmed last week that development work on Cerner Millennium for the South of England had ceased while the NHS remains in a deadlocked contract dispute with Fujitsu and Cerner.
The minister also addressed concerns about the financial stability of iSoft’s parent company, IBA Health, saying this had been verified by iSoft’s prime contractor on the NHS IT programme Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC).
O’Brien asked for the minister’s assessment of the progress of the development and implementation of the delayed Lorenzo and Millennium clinical systems. The health minister said regular reviews were being conducted and promised new systems by the summer.
Bradshaw said the development of Lorenzo Release 1 “has been regularly assessed by NHS Connecting for Health”.
Responsibility for delivering Lorenzo to the NHS rests with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), the software is being developed by iSoft. Delivery of Lorenzo was first promised to the NHS at the end of 2004.
Commenting on when Lorenzo will finally be deployed to NHS sites, Bradshaw said: “It is understood that the development plans will enable the deployment of Release 1of Lorenzo into early adopter sites in the North, Midlands and East Programme for information technology, formerly North West and West Midlands, North East and the East Midlands, in the summer.”
Bradshaw added: “Release 2 of Lorenzo is due to be ready for deployment in the autumn”.
On the development of Millennium software by Cerner, to be delivered in the South by Fujitsu, Bradshaw said eight hospitals were currently using the software, but confirmed further development and deployments remain on hold until deadlocked contract negotiations are resolved.
“The development of the Cerner Millennium by Fujitsu in the South of England, where eight hospitals are using the Release 0 version of the software is the subject of a current contract reset.”
The minister said BT has delivered Millennium software to two London hospitals since last summer “and a further deployment is now due”. He said the next Release LC1 “is due to be implemented in the summer”.
All the LSPs confirmed to EHI that the minister’s answers were factually correct.
Though trusts are now responsible for deployment plans under the National Programme for IT Local Ownership Programme (NLOP), NHS Connecting for Health (CfH) are responsible for reviewing and assessing the delivery of systems by LSPs.
The minister added: “It is the responsibility of the local service providers to manage the delivery of the NHS Care Record Service to the contracted timetables and for the management of their sub-contractors and suppliers.
“NHS Connecting for Health routinely assesses progress against plans and manages the relationship and commercial arrangements with suppliers to ensure that NHS requirements are being met.”
Also monitored by CfH regularly was the financial stability of system suppliers, he added.
Asked by O’Brien if iSoft’s parent company IBA Healthcare was financially stable, Bradshaw answered: “Computer Science Corporation as the relevant LSP, has confirmed the financial stability of IBA Healthcare as their sub-contractor and that the purchase of iSoft by IBA has not adversely impacted on the delivery timescales for the Lorenzo solution to the NHS.”
Bradshaw’s promises on the Lorenzo system echo those of Connecting for Health’s head of service implementation, Richard Jeavons, as reported by E-Health Insider last month. Talk of June and July Lorenzo delivery has now been replaced by reference to the summer.
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