News
Department of Health publishes procurement gateway reviews of
National Programme for IT
29 June 2009
The Office of Government Commerce and the Department of Health have
decided to make public a number of reviews of the National Programme for
IT (NPfIT), following a Freedom of Information request. These relate to
issues which were examined through the Gateway Process at key decision
points in order to provide assurance that they should progress to the
next stage.
The 31 Gateway Review documents are available to view on the NHS
Connecting for Health website [1].
The purpose of Gateway reviews is to challenge assumptions and
explore any perceived weaknesses. They are expected to be critical of
certain aspects. This is part of best government practice and has meant
that the NPfIT has been able to assess which activities needed to change
and which issues should be addressed.
The Reviews cover a period between 2002 and 2007. Given that the
material is older than two years, it has been possible to make public
almost all of the content, only restricting information which names
junior members of staff.
The Department of Health said: “This was an ambitious, difficult but
necessary programme to deliver digital x-ray communication systems
(PACS) to every acute trust in England, for over half of patient
referral appointments to be booked online at a time and place convenient
to the patient and for over 40,000 broadband connections to be made
between primary, secondary and community healthcare, including more than
11,000 pharmacists.
"The summary care record is being successfully piloted to help
patients in emergency care by enabling access to important medical
information out of hours.
“During the early years of the National Programme for IT, these
Reviews took place in order to highlight things which needed to change
and issues to be addressed. They were therefore deliberately critical
and focused on problems. That was the objective. But they were also
balanced in highlighting positive progress too.
“We welcomed the report from the Public Accounts Committee in January
this year and its acknowledgment of what has been successfully
delivered. The delays involved in implementing the Care Records Service
in the acute sector are regrettable, but it is important to point out
that these have not been at any cost to the taxpayer.
Contracts with suppliers are paid on delivery. The Department of
Health’s Director General for Informatics has recently made clear that
if significant progress is not achieved by the end of November, a new
approach may need to be adopted.”
1. The Gateway reviews are published on the Connecting for Health
website in the 'About us - Freedom of Information' pages:
www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/about/foi
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