DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
News Release issued by COI News Distribution Service on 28 April 2009
A comprehensive
strategy for accelerating the pace of delivery for the National
Programme for IT (NPfIT) and introducing additional supplier
capacity was outlined by the Department of Health's Director
General for Informatics today.
Christine Connelly set out a number of key proposals, including
opening up the IT market with a procurement process for hospital
trusts in the South of England which are not managed by BT. This
would use the Additional Supply Capability and Capacity framework
which confirmed a number of suppliers in 2007 as able to deliver
extra resources for the Programme.
The computing marketplace will also be boosted by the provision
of a Department of Health toolkit which will allow new products to
be developed locally, accredited centrally and linked to existing
deployments of information systems such as Cerner and Lorenzo. It
is envisaged that work on this toolkit - a pioneering initiative
to take advantage of the latest technological developments - will
be complete by March 2010.
Having reviewed the progress and strategy for the NPfIT, the CIO
is clear that all the core aims of the NPfIT around providing
accessible and timely information to support patient care should
be retained. This also applies to the procurement model which has
ensured protection for the taxpayer by only paying suppliers on
successful delivery of working systems.
Good progress has been made in many areas including digitised
imaging replacing X-rays, online patient referrals, electronic
transfers of records when patients change GPs and a broadband
network linking acute hospitals, GP surgeries and community services.
Through the implementation of Picture Archiving and Communication
Systems across all NHS hospital trusts in England patients are
experiencing faster and safer diagnoses and treatment while
freeing up vital resources to invest in even better patient care.
The new systems and services introduced as part of the Programme
also support choice and convenience for patients in booking
outpatient appointments and obtaining repeat prescriptions. Some
54% of all new outpatient appointments are being now booked
through Choose and Book and recent evidence suggests that using
Choose and Book is reducing referral response times from 25 to 5
days, making a key contribution to achieving 18 weeks targets for treatment.
However, as has been recently pointed out by the Public Accounts
Committee, progress in implementing electronic information systems
in the acute sector has proved more challenging. Greater pace
needs to be injected into these implementations. If significant
progress is not achieved by the end of November 2009, a new plan
for delivering informatics to healthcare will be adopted.
The Department of Health's Director General for Informatics,
Christine Connelly said:
"This Review has shown me just how committed NHS Trusts are
to achieving the aims of the National Programme for Information
Technology (NPfIT). By improving information sharing, we can make
a real difference to the quality and safety of services for
patients and support more flexible and personalised care, which is
what patients have told us they want.
"We now want to open up the healthcare IT market to new
suppliers and new technological developments, to inject more pace
into this programme. Working together we can help Trusts configure
systems to best meet their local needs as well as take advantage
of market developments to make more use of the information held in
the core systems.
"We will be working closely with the NHS and our current
suppliers to improve the pace of delivery. If we don't see
significant progress by the end of November 2009, then we will
move to a new plan for delivering informatics to healthcare. The
potential for informatics to improve the quality of services for
patients is enormous, and I want to ensure that what we are doing
is in the best interests of patients, as well as the system."
ENDS
1. For further information please contact the Department of
Health Informatics Media Team on 020 7004 1555, nhscfh.pressoffice@nhs.net