Electronic patient records face four-year delay
pharmafile | May 20, 2008 | News story | |Â Â Â
Plans to give every NHS Trust in England access to an electronic patient records system have been condemned for raising 'unrealistic expectations' by a new report.
Electronic patient records are a key part of the National Programme for IT, but the National Audit Office branded the original 2010 deadline for their implementation as 'unachievable'.
The NAO's report was highly critical of the management and planning behind the massive project to convert all patient records to an electronic format, and concluded the system won't be ready until 2014-15.
"The scale of the challenge involved in delivering the National Programme for IT has proved to be far greater than envisaged at the start, with serious delays in delivering the new care records systems," said Tim Burr, head of the National Audit Office.
"Progress is being made, however, and financial savings and other benefits are beginning to emerge. The priority now is to finish developing and deploying care records systems that will help NHS Trusts to achieve the Programme's intended benefits of improved services and better patient care."
One consolation is that the budget for the massive project has not increased greatly from the original forecast of £12.7 billion, despite the lack of progress.
Furthermore, a survey last year by the Department of Health found doctors and nurses still believed the project would eventually benefit patients, with 67 % of nurses and 62% of doctors expecting to see improvements in patient care as a result.






