NHS ramps up spend on management consultants
Spending on management consultants across the public sector has reached a record a record £3bn a year, with an increase of over a third in the past two years, according to new figures released by the National Audit Office. The increase in spending over the past two years is largely driven by the increased use […]
News
Minister responsible for NPfIT to retire
Lord Warner the health minister responsible for the £12.4bn NHS IT project is to retire at the end of the year. No 10 has announced that the Labour peer will retire at the end of the year, in what was described as a "personal decision". The BBC reported that Downing Street had denied that his departure […]
News
MP “looking into” how NAO report was drafted
Commons Public Accounts Committee member and outspoken scrutiniser of the National Programme for IT, Richard Bacon MP, says he is trying to find out what happened during the drafting process of the controversial National Audit Office (NAO) report on the programme. The late-running report was published in June and made no comment on delays in […]
News
‘Engage, understand and manage’ says NAO report
More engagement, understanding and better management is needed, if the public sector is to successfully deliver new IT services, according to a new report by the National Audit Office. The NAO’s ‘Delivering successful IT- enabled business change’ report identifies 24 successful public and private sector projects, including health service’s own NHS UK Transplant, which they […]
News
DH carrying out ‘confidential’ review of CfH
E-Health Insider has learned that an urgent ‘confidential’ review of the NHS IT programme and structure of Connecting for Health, the agency responsible for its delivery, has been launched by the new chief executive of the NHS David Nicholson. The new boss of the health service has commissioned a review of the £6.2bn NHS digitisation […]
News
NHS Direct patient database approaches first birthday
NHS Direct, the health service’s telephone and online advice service will celebrate the first birthday of its single national database next month, launched in partnership with clinical decision support software (CDSS) specialists, Clinical Solutions. The database records all individual patients who contact the NHS Direct phoneline and holds details of their enquiry and any advice […]
News
IC deal with Dr Foster under NAO scrutiny
The controversial deal to form a joint venture between the Health and Social Care Information Centre and a private company Dr Foster LLP is to come under scrutiny from Parliament’s value-for-money watchdog, the National Audit Office(NAO). The NAO says its study will focus on the question: “Does the investment by the Health and Social Care […]
News
NAO planning to look again at NPfIT
The National Audit Office (NAO) has confirmed that it plans to carry out a second study of the late-running £12bn National Programme for IT (NPfIT). No date has yet been set for this new study to be carried out. The NAO said in June that it “may return to carry out a further examination at a […]
News
Criticisms of NHS IT programme were cut from NAO report
Detailed criticisms of the management of the NHS IT modernisation programme, being overseen by Connecting for Health, were cut from the National Audit Office report published in June. An early draft of the report obtained by the BBC reveals that strongly worded concerns and critical analysis of the programme were either toned down or removed entirely […]
News
Cayton to lead summary records taskforce
Patients’ ‘tsar’ and chair of the Care Records Development Board, Harry Cayton, will lead the taskforce set up to help get the NHS Summary Care Record underway and resolve outstanding issues over its introduction, it was announced today. The taskforce membership will also include leaders from the main clinical professions and representatives from patient groups […]
News