£6bn NHS contracts under scrutiny

The National Audit Office is investigating the £6bn-worth of NHS contracts that constitute the largest-ever UK public sector IT project.

The project to move patient records online, offer web-based appointment booking and connect all surgeries, hospitals and clinics across the UK has attracted watchdog interest and the NAO is currently investigating the awarding of the contracts and whether they offer the best value for money.

The contract to place 50 million patient records online by 2010 has attracted the most concern among health service professionals, who are worried about the implications for patient confidentiality in the event of a data leak or malicious hack - especially as government IT projects have rarely been realised without a few teething problems.

That contract, picked up by BT, represents around 10 per cent of the overall value of the project (£620m). BT also picked up the £530m contract to provide the nationwide broadband network for the NHS.

Tola Sargeant, analyst at Ovum, a consultancy which has followed the NHS IT overhaul closely and also has a contract to advise the government, reckons the investigation is simply procedural rather than an indication the NAO expects to find any wrongdoing or specific reason for concern.

"It is very unusual for the NAO to investigate an IT project at such an early stage but the NAO maintains that the fact that it is starting work now does not imply any particular concern with the way the Programme is going," said Sargeant in a research note. "The unparalleled scale and complexity of the NPfIT, the innovative procurement process used and the Programme's incredibly high profile are all good reasons for NAO to report on NPfIT sooner rather than later."

The British Medical Association has claimed previously that the awarding of the contracts was too secretive and doctors claim they have been kept in the dark over the plans for rolling out the contracts.

Much of the concerns focus on the levels of training needed to affect the switch to a nationwide IT infrastructure and online administration of the health service.

A report published last month by the Institute for Public Policy Research expressed concerns about the readiness of NHS staff and organisation to handle the change and suggested the project could be undermined by such barriers.

"There may simply be insufficient capacity within the NHS to cope with the magnitude of change that will be required," the report claimed. "Inadequate funding, insufficient skilled staff and the competition of other priorities may mean that although ICT systems have been procured, the benefits delivered will not be as great as they might have been."

Ovum's Sargeant added: "With some clinicians and politicians expressing concerns over the way the Programme is being implemented, a thorough, independent review by the NAO could be just what the doctor ordered."

The NAO will publish its report next year.