“Andy Beckett’s article on the NHS’s £12.7bn IT programme was too negative (Systems failure?, 9 July). “The National Programme for IT is five years behind schedule,” he says. “As the delays have built up, so has the impression of a government IT scheme, like many before it, gradually sinking into a swamp of technical difficulties, ethical disputes, incompetent contractors and Whitehall over-ambition and careless spending.”
The project has a number of key systems, for example a system for patients to book their first appointment to see a hospital consultant; a system to transfer prescription details between GP, pharmacist and paying agency; a broadband network; and an x-ray archiving system for different healthcare staff to see.”
Article
Vic Lane, The Guardian, 4 August 2009
