BMA warns of lack of confidence in NHS IT reform
The Government’s plans to radically reform and improve IT services within the NHS may fail unless it engages health professionals, according to a spokesman for the British Medical Association (BMA).
Dr John Powell, who chairs the BMA’s IT committee, told delegates at Tuesday’s eHealth conference that he was concerned by previous overruns in other Government IT projects.
The Government has embarked on an ambitious £2.3 billion National Plan for IT (NPfIT) which aims to revolutionise computer systems within the NHS. It will ensure that all operating systems are compatible, and create an electronic Care Records Service which would hold details of all NHS patients.
Though doctors are believed to be generally supportive of the plans, there are some concerns. In June this year, the BMA voted not to engage in the records service until concerns about confidentiality had been met.
There are also concerns about what the project will cost to implement at a local level and how staff will adapt to using an entirely different system.
Speaking today, Dr Powell urged the Government to engage with medical professionals, saying: “The national programme must learn the lessons of other high profile public sector IT projects such as the passport office fiasco of 1999. Large-scale public IT projects do not have a good track record in the UK and so it is paramount that the NHS learns the lessons of history and engages with the frontline staff who will be using the new systems.
“So far the level of engagement and consultation with the medical profession has been wholly inadequate.”
He added that he hoped the programme would offer support to staff and reduce the administrative burdens on doctors, but warned: “This goal will only be realised if the national programme can provide systems that are at least as effective as those currently in use. Clinical staff must be consulted. There is no point investing billions of pounds in systems that do not have the confidence of users.”
The Government though argue that the project is fully costed and will provide major benefits in improved patient care.
