. Just watched the BBC Ten O’Clock News and was intrigued by the breaking news that there has been a fall out between the NHS and one of its primary IT suppliers Fujitsu. What really stunned me was the BBC assertion that “The estimated final overall cost of computerising the NHS in England is currently £12.7bn. While the NHS’s Connecting for Health programme has overrun, tough contracts have so far kept it broadly within budget.“ What? The alleged “tough contracts” have seen the cost of this IT farce jump from £2.3 billion to £6 billion, then £9 billion and currently £12.4 billion – it is by any standards MASSIVELY over-budget anfd with little prospect of attaining the time-scales promised by the NHS. I find it staggering that the BBC thinks it can get away with such unmitigated propagandising on behalf of the NHS. This is not just bias, it is lies.
SHILLING FOR THE NHS
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I find it staggering that the BBC thinks it can get away with such unmitigated propagandising on behalf of the NHS.
They don’t think, they know.
Who is going to stop them?
The BBC is hardly able to pretend it is anything more than the government broadcaster these days. It has gotten palpably worse with every fiasco and disaster that Brown has managed to get attached to himself.
It is attempting to protect the very thing it considers most important to its long term survival.
Hey. When you need £3.5 billion a year extracted with menaces to keep all those BBC luvvies in jobs, you’ll spout any old crap the Government tells you.
The BBC will be having orgasms at the thought of £12.4 billion of public money.They will be on their knees praying “Let it be us”.
You’d think this story would be on the mainpage of Views Online, but no. A story saying Cancer survivors ‘left in limbo’ gets the mainpage treatment instead.
I nearly fell off my sofa when the BBC health correspondent gave this report.
Connecting for Health has been an unmitigated disaster. If was famously sketched out on a paper napkin by Tony Blair looking to “do something big” in the NHS. Industry insiders think we will spend around £20Bn on it. How the BBC thinks that is broadly within budget is incredible. Perhaps they will be reporting on the prudent management of the Olympics budget next!
“unmitigated propagandising on behalf of the NHS”, I think you mean on behalf of the Labour government.
It really is extraordinary. Perhaps the Taxpayers Alliance should make an official complaint.
Yesterday in an interview the odious McShane stated that Gordan Brown was the person to lead us and has seen us through many disasters such as the Foot and Mouth outbreak.
Neither he or the BBC thought to mention that this was a self inflicted injury by a Government site, no person will be made culpable, Gordan tried and partially succeeded in clamping down on the the investigation, and the stated cost of £100 million was a gross underestimate.
Lies, Lies, and more lies.
Just immagine how bad labour’s finances would be if they had to pay commercial rates for all the free advertising time they get on the bbc !
Taking yesterday’s evening R2 news slots as an example , a BIG name check for pm godon (in case anyone had forgotten who he was), then a rehash of the days Traktor Production figures, as supplied by gordon’s office, followed by a couple of news bits.
Just think how many rural post offices could be kept open for even 1% of the money wasted on the nhs computer system. But hey, rural people don’t vote labour, whereas those benefiting from PFI deals, tend to donate labour, so no contest !
Given the standards of public sector efficiency, the beeboids probably think that a 600% cost overrun really is “broadly on target”. Anyway, it’s only government money isn’t it? If they run out they can always print some more.
Here’s another take on the topic from a press release.
NHS IT project faces another avoidable hurdle comments DMW Group
After 10 months of renegotiations with Fujitsu, the NHS is facing fresh challenges to its £12.7 billion programme to provide every patient in England with an electronic care record.
Simon Williams, director at independent IT consultancy, DMW Group comments:
“Fujitsu’s exit from the NHS contract will not do the Government’s reputation for IT project failure any good. The project is already four years behind its timeframe, and is getting untidier by the day.
“The problem the NHS is facing is that there is now clear evidence that the major suppliers are making a loss on what, at first sight, will have seemed a solid long term deal. However, reports that the contract has already cost Fujitsu an estimated £300 million have surfaced. Considering that the failure rates of large government IT projects are high, there must be a ‘win win’ situation for both sides. It is of little surprise that the most able and sensible suppliers jumped clear of the project early on. Accenture exited in 2006 and IBM didn’t even bid for the work in the first place. All this leads to a strong conclusion that the contract terms were unfairly weighed in favour of the NHS and the project should not have even started if it wasn’t a ‘win win’ situation for all parties.
“The bottom line, of course is that the UK tax payer is footing the bill for the NHS’ mistake in selecting suppliers who struggled to deliver. With such an important contract, and with so much to lose, the NHS should have made more out of the ‘intelligent customer’ concept, or at least had stronger capabilities in this area. An ‘intelligent customer’ works directly for the NHS and it is their role to finalise the original contract and then provide ongoing management of the supplier through each stage of the contract from requirements through to operation. For such large contracts, the ‘intelligent customer’ function must be staffed by highly experienced IT professionals, who have already led similar engagements. A great deal of thought needs to go into selecting the suppliers; it is necessary to find a supplier with the right blend of skills and experience. It is also necessary to ensure the customer’s programme management team and the supplier have a close relationship, are in constant communication and that objectives and deliverables expressed clearly.
“Let’s hope that the NHS is learning from its past mistakes. All parties can simply not afford another set back in this project.”
Of course the BBC is used to running over budget and not worrying too much about it.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/29/bbc_website_budget_bust/