Computer fiasco as NHS 24 hotline faces £130m crisis
New system massively over-budget and 4 years late
AN NHS helpline ‘supercomputer’ to deal with out-of-hours patients is £55million over-budget and four years behind schedule, it was revealed last night.
NHS 24 said the system would be up and running this summer, after a failed switch-on saw call handlers forced to use pen and paper.
But a report by watchdog Audit Scotland yesterday revealed the system will not be ready until December next year.
Having lost half a million pounds for every month it is offline, the cost of the project has leapt 73 per cent beyond the original budget to £131.2million.
When it finally starts, it will have been eight years in the planning.
The news comes only three months after a £60million supercomputer scheme for Police Scotland collapsed.
Audit Scotland criticised the NHS’s failed Future Programme as the latest example of ‘common weaknesses’ in large-scale Scottish IT projects, which also include a Crown Office case management database scrapped at a cost of £2.3million.
Scottish Lib Dem health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: ‘NHS 24’s new computer system has been plagued with difficulties from the outset.
‘We are now tens of millions of pounds over budget and are yet to see a functioning IT package that delivers what was promised. The massive cost overruns from another SNP IT fiasco will have long-term implications for funding.’
NHS 24 started working on the Future Programme seven years ago. It should have launched in June 2013 but the start date was postponed indefinitely when the system was unable to cope with multiple users at a reasonable speed.
The Scottish Government was forced into a £20.8million bail-out of NHS 24. It has so far repaid only £400,000. Meanwhile, it is losing £500,000 in licensing and servicing costs for every month the system lies unused.
The new computer system was launched last October but within an hour the old system had to be rebooted due to patient safety fears – forcing staff to use pen and paper to record patients’ symptoms.
The technology went live again last November – but lasted only ten days before once more failing to cope with emergency calls.
It was promised the system would be back up ‘as soon as possible’ – but the new launch date shifted to this summer before being pushed back yet again. If the nationwide roll-out goes ahead as planned in December next year, it will be fourand-a-half years overdue from the original planned start date.
Audit Scotland concluded in its report: ‘The delays in implementing the new system have led to significant additional costs and risks to NHS 24’s ability to meet its financial targets in future years.’
NHS 24 apologised to the Scottish parliament over the Future Programme, a joint project with IT firm Capgemini, which it tried to sue before withdrawing the action.
Audit Scotland previously criticised the helpline’s management team, which it said did not have the skills for such a major project.
Previous chief executive Ian Crichton quit in February after only six months.
But Audit Scotland said the NHS 24 board was taking reasonable steps to counteract the risk of further delays. The board is planning
‘Mismanaging our health service’
a phased delivery of the new system. Last week, it went live with six planned care services on the new telephone system.
NHS 24 chief executive Angiolina Foster accepted delays had significantly upped costs. She said: ‘The next stage is partnering with one health board to ensure all aspects of implementation are secure, prior to a broader national roll-out during 2017.’
Audit Scotland also flagged up ‘prolonged and considerable’ financial challenges for NHS Tayside, which needs to make savings of £175million over five years.
NHS Tayside chief executive Lesley McLay said: ‘The financial challenge is extremely important but there are other key issues which we must address to ensure our health services continue to be safe.’
Scottish Labour said Health Secretary Shona Robison was ‘mismanaging our NHS’.
Miss Robison said: ‘The Scottish Government takes reports from the Auditor General for Scotland very seriously. We welcome the additional level of oversight and scrutiny and continue to work with the health boards concerned to address the issues raised.
‘Patient safety is our top priority and was at no point compromised.’