Katie Davis, the Managing Director of NHS Informatics, has said that the defunct National Programme for IT (NPfIT) has “stunted” the growth of the NHS IT market.

In order to deliver the government’s “connect all” strategy, Davis said that success will depend on reversing this trend and encouraging growth in NHS IT. She says that creating a more vibrant market will require greater openness and transparency, with the focus being placed on value for money, clinical benefits and local choice. Furthermore, she stated the need for the NHS to be an “intelligent customer”.

Despite the fact that the reforms resulting from the controversial Health and Social Care Bill have yet to be implemented, the NHS will require dramatically different IT systems to support restructuring of working processes. It is widely believed that changes to IT are essential if the efficiency savings of £20 billion are to be made over the next four years without the NHS suffering a reduction in quality.

The government consulted on a new information strategy to support its reforms last year, but the strategy itself has never been published. Davis said it remains a work in progress, but should be published this winter.

Davies also emphasised that whilst a marketplace with a diverse range of capable companies supplying proven products still existed, it had been stunted by large scale IT failures.

Commenting on the NPfIT, Davis said that one of the largest factors attributing to it’s failure was that too much emphasis was placed on replacing existing systems rather than connecting up any existing and successful local systems. She admitted to being “surprised” that it has taken so long to begin to redirect the NPfIT to deliver the “connect all” strategy, which is focused on connecting up and building on existing systems, using standards and interoperability. This has been government policy for more than 18 months, and Davis made it clear that she intends to quicken the pace of change.

“NPfIT has never been a single programme, but about 20 different main projects and the majority of these will continue,” she asserted, stating that it was a priority for the government to resolve any unfinished NPfIT business.

Ultimately, Davis stressed that going forward the themes of NHS IT will be both “continuity” of services that the NHS has come to rely on, and “change” in the services that demand it. Across the NHS, it is estimated that there are in excess of 500 programmes that require ongoing support, and she is reviewing how this should be done in the future.

With reduced government backing, the NPfIT will become more optional for Trusts, granting them the ability to allocate their own budget into relevant areas and smaller, tailored solutions. With this in mind, Trust’s could look to implement an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system such as Therapy Manager, which is highly focused on efficiently capturing and reporting on clinical activity within Therapies. It can also be seamlessly integrated with the majority of Trust-wide solutions and Therapies-specific applications.

Original Source eHealth Insider

About Pathway Software

Pathway Software (www.pathwaysoftware.com) specialises in the design and development of patient information systems for Allied Health professionals.

Its flagship product, Therapy Manager, is an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system specifically designed for Therapy Services to provide decision makers with the ability to track and manage clinical activity and analyse cost of care by patient, episode or service. The system also demonstrably reduces administration time and the costs of managing Therapy Services.