NHS updates key targets in £6bn IT modernisation

The agency in charge of delivering the £6bn IT modernisation of the NHS has published its first business plan, outlining targets for delivery of some of the key systems over the next year.

Richard Granger, chief executive of Connecting for Health (formerly known as the National Programme for IT in the NHS), said the 10-year project to transform the health service is now "firmly underway" but added there is no room for complacency.

"It is pivotal to the delivery of choice and the provision of quicker access to safer and better care. This revolutionary change will be delivered through gradual changes rather than a single episode," he said in the business plan.

The integration of the NHS Information Authority (NHSIA) functions into Connecting for Health (CfH) is due to be complete by the end of September 2005 with the loss of 54 posts in NHSIA.

Other key deployment targets set out by the CfH business plan include the national NHS care record 'data spine' by the end of 2005; 50 per cent of the national electronic prescription service by the end of 2005; the ability to connect any NHS trust to the N3 high-speed broadband network by the end of March 2006 with a minimum of 12,000 sites to be connected; partial deployment of the Pacs picture archiving communications system; and the development of firm plans for completing the bulk of deployment by March 2007.

CfH said it will also create and implement a plan to involve clinical staff, patients and the public in system design and development to ensure the NHS gets maximum benefit out of the new systems.

In separate CfH news, Fujitsu Services, the local service provider for the southern NHS region, said Cerner has officially been awarded the electronic patient record contract after IDX was ditched in June.

Work on the deployment of the Cerner systems has been ongoing since early summer and has progressed at 17 trusts in the southern region while the contract negotiations continued. The first systems will go live sometime at the turn of the year.