The Telegraph this week published an angry tirade descrying the National Programme for IT as an expensive, inefficient and chaotic waste of £12 billion of taxpayers’ money.
Would you agree?
The article suggests that the flagship NHS system is not fit for purpose, and that on the occasions that it does function as promised, the patient information is largely irrelevant to frontline staff delivering the care.
Of course, the priority for medical staff treating patients is and will continue to be that of stabilising the patient physiologically, but to suggest patient data is unimportant or even irrelevant to frontline care providers is dangerously wrong.
Access to patient data informs clinical staff of previous medical history, and of vital information such as whether the patient is allergic to specific drugs, such as emergency room anaesthetics and even common painkillers. Not having such data to hand can serve to not only delay medical procedures, but could potentially impact on patient care.
No, the national programme for IT is not perfect, and there is certainly a long way to go until we have in place a fully electronic and truly national database and information exchange. However, it’s all too easy to forget the significant progress that has already been made.
Four of the five IT systems are already in place and performing well, improving NHS performance and enabling key tasks to be carried out more swiftly and efficiently. Giving clinicians access to quality data is central to them being able to deliver timely and appropriate care, optimising outcomes and the patient experience.
Improving the quality and quantity of patient data is a central plank in improving care delivery, and the national programme for IT is the means to delivering this across the vast NHS network.
As I worked for several years on this system I can tell you from first hand knowledge that it is overblown, over speced, under managed, too expensive, and will never work due its very poor underlying systems structure. This poor stucture is the main reason the systemn has been delayed as it required constant rebuilds and amendments. Thi smeans the whole thing is ramshackle and not fit for purpose. The British public who are meant to benefit from it will never do so. The British taxpayer has been robbed both by the NHS IT management who have collected massivve bonuses, and the suppliers and developers who would not have survived in business without it.