Health organisations 'named and shamed' over Y2K

The UK Audit Commission has 'named and shamed' three NHS bodies for failing to take adequate action to fix the millennium bug.

In the third of its series of millennium bug reports, called 'Time waits for no one', the Commission listed the names and state of preparedness of all trusts and health authorities.

Manchester Health Authority, Mid-Essex Hospital services and Oxfordshire Ambulance Service were all singled out for falling dangerously behind in Y2K preparations.

But Tim Jones, millennium policy manager at the NHS Confederation, claimed the situation is not as bleak as it seems. "Having three out of over 500 NHS bodies in England alone in this state is fairly manageable. The important thing is that we know who they are so we can target them."

Speaking at the National Infrastructure Forum, Alasdair Liddell, director of planning at the Department of Health, said he is confident that all health organisations are "on schedule" to meet the NHS' self-imposed deadline of September.

Jones was also anxious to dispel the myth that the NHS is unable to cope with the millennium bug. He explained: "The doom-mongers say we are not prepared, but that is plain wrong. In terms of fixing hardware such as major systems and life-saving equipment, that problem is pretty much covered.

"Obviously, embedded chips were a problem for us, as they are in one or two per cent of all NHS devices. Things like defibrillators and feeding pumps aren't time-sensitive but they had to be checked, and pretty much all the supply issues are dealt with. The only real uncertainty is the demand on service," he added.