NHS IT scheme to be overhauled?

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The National Programme for IT (NPfIT) could be under threat from new Government proposals to restructure the NHS.

Andrew Lansley, the new minister for health, outlined his white paper yesterday, which detailed a huge overhaul of the NHS structure, along with massive cuts to aid reducing the UK deficit.

Although not referring directly to the NPfIT, Lansley promised budget cuts when it came to “consultancy services” and claimed “NHS services will increasingly be empowered to be the customers of a more plural system of IT and other suppliers.”

The major push of the white paper when it came to IT though was the call for an “NHS information revolution, to correct the imbalance in who knows what.”

The Government is proposing to give patients better access to their medical records and have better communication with clinicians by putting it all online.

“We will provide a range of online services which will mean services being provided much more efficiently at a time and place that is convenient for patients and carers, and will also enable greater efficiency,” the white paper stated.

The Government has promised to aggregate all the data into one place to make it easier to analyse and present findings to patients “in an easily understandable way.”

However, it has promised safeguards to protect personal information.

But there was still no clarity about what would happen to the NPfIT, which is set to cost the tax payer £12.7 billion.

Back in March, the Labour-led Department of Health said expectations had been rolled back in an attempt to save money, but it was “continuing its work” on the project.

Before the general election back in May, both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives were critical of the expensive scheme but since forming the coalition, nothing has been set in stone for its future.

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