Benefits of £12bn IT programme in NHS are “unclear,” MPs say

MPs have called for an urgent review of the programme to computerise the NHS in England, which they criticise for unprecedented delays and costs and whose benefits, they say, are uncertain.

In its report the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts cites two former aides who attack the national programme for information technology (IT) in the NHS for the poor consultation with clinicians on how the new system should be designed and the use of “bullying tactics” with NHS trusts and suppliers.

Edward Leigh, chairman of the committee, said: “The programme is not looking good. The electronic patient clinical record, which is central to the project, is already running two years late. The suppliers are struggling to deliver. Scepticism is rife among the NHS clinicians whose commitment to the programme is essential to its …