"The original vision for the National Programme for IT in the NHS will not be realised. The NHS is now getting far fewer systems than planned despite the Department paying contractors almost the same amount of money. This is yet another example of a department fundamentally underestimating the scale and complexity of a major IT-enabled change programme.
"The Department of Health needs to admit that it is now in damage-limitation mode. I hope that my report today, together with the forthcoming review by the Cabinet Office and Treasury, announced by the Prime Minister, will help to prevent further loss of public value from future expenditure on the Programme."
Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, 18 May 2011
http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/1012/npfit.aspxCompare this with the expectations in 2006
“Following last Friday's release of the long awaited report from the National Audit Office on the National Programme for IT in the NHS, it has been interesting to watch how the media have commented.
The report itself was remarkably upbeat about the progress of NPfIT in placing massive contracts with IT suppliers and software development, relating to overspending and timescales - although it did contain some criticisms of the progress in involving clinicians.
E-Health Insider suggested that NAO gives positive account of NHS CfH reporting that " According to the eagerly awaited National Audit Office report published today the DH and NHS Connecting for Health, the agency responsible for the NHS IT project, have “made substantial progress” but the project remains very much a work in progress and it is too early to judge success.””
http://blog.rodspace.co.uk/2006/06/uk-nao-report-on-npfit-in-nhs.htmlhttp://www.nao.org.uk/publications/0506/department_of_health_the_nati.aspx
