HOW THE PROGRAMME IS ORGANISED
19. In contrast with previous NHS IT strategies,
NPfIT involves the procurement of new systems and services at
a national level rather than by individual NHS organisations.
In 2005, responsibility for NPfIT was transferred from the Department
of Health to an arms-length body, NHS Connecting for Health. Thus
all of the contracts listed in table 1 were agreed on behalf of
the NHS by the Department of Health and are now held and managed
by Connecting for Health. The majority of new systems will be
installed in local NHS organisations, but suppliers are answerable
to Connecting for Health, a national organisation. Connecting
for Health is currently transferring some responsibility for contract
management to the 10 regional Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs)
through the NPfIT Local Ownership Programme (NLOP), which we discuss
in Chapter 4.
20. Since its inception, the project has been headed
by Richard Granger, inaugural Director General for IT in the NHS.
Mr Granger announced in June 2007 that he would leave his post
by the end of the year.[12]
21. Department of Health and Connecting for Health
officials praised the centralised organisation of the programme,
arguing that the introduction of national-level procurement in
2002 had led to a step change in progress on the delivery of new
IT systems to the NHS. They pointed out that the centralised approach
had led to:
- Better value for money
because of national procurement: officials argued that local procurement
of systems had generally proved unaffordable in the past;[13]
- Much more consistent development of IT
across the NHS, in contrast with the previous "electronic
islands";[14]
- Greater potential for interoperability
between systems than if a more localised approach had been taken.[15]
22. Defending the centralised approach to the programme,
Richard Granger was especially critical of progress prior to the
inception of NPfIT:
the progress that had been made was lamentableand
yet at very significant cost of about a billion pounds a year
at 2002. The revisionists are busy at work now trying to make
out the progress that had been achieved before 2002 was extremely
good and has somehow been retarded by the introduction of national
systems; but the evidence does not substantiate that viewpoint.[16]
23. As table 1 demonstrates, some of the main NPfIT
contracts cover services to be provided nationally across the
whole of the NHS, such as the N3 network and the National Data
Spine (which includes the Summary Care Record). Contracts are
also in place for the provision of services across regional areas.
For this purpose, the NHS was divided into five geographical 'clusters',
for each of which a Local Service Provider (LSP) contract was
agreed. LSPs were contracted to provide a wide range of services
to organisations across their 'cluster', including new PAS systems
and the other services which will contribute to the Detailed Care
Record. The five LSP contracts made up 80% of the value of the
initial contracts (around £5 billion of the total value of
£6.3 billion). The five 'clusters' and their LSPs are shown
below:
Figure 1: The 5 regional NPfIT 'clusters'
24. The five LSP contracts were originally awarded
to four different suppliers, with Accenture holding two of the
five contracts. However, Accenture withdrew from the programme
in September 2006 and its two LSP contracts were transferred to
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), one of the existing LSPs.[17]
Thus CSC now holds three of the five LSP contracts with the others
continuing to be held by Fujitsu and BT. BT also holds the two
major contracts for supplying services at a national level, those
for the N3 network and the National Data Spine.
25. LSPs have subcontracted some areas of their work
to smaller, more specialised companies. In particular, the development
of new PAS software for hospitals and community care providers
has generally been outsourced. In the three clusters now under
CSC, the Lorenzo PAS system is being provided by iSoft, a UK software
firm.[18] In the London
and Southern clusters, a Common Solution Project was initially
formed between BT and Fujitsu to procure PAS systems from the
US software supplier IDX. However, the partnership was subsequently
dissolved and both LSPs subsequently switched from IDX to another
US firm, Cerner, as their main PAS system supplier.[19]
Cerner will supply the Millennium PAS system.[20]
26. The current suppliers for new hospital PAS software
are shown in the table below: