Outsourcing Toolkit

NHS report hails NPfIT milestones

Kable

Published: 03 Sep 2007 14:54 BST

The first quarter of 2007-08 witnessed several milestones for the National Programme for IT, says a report from the NHS.

The NHS has singled out picture archiving and communications systems (PACS), Choose and Book, and the electronic prescription service as areas where significant progress has been made.

Recognition of these "milestones" is detailed in a report by David Flory, director general for NHS finance, performance and operations, which outlines the NHS's financial position, alongside progress made in health and health services.

The report, published on Thursday, says that, between April and June this year, 100 percent of PACS installations were completed in the south and London — with a total of 81,733,354 images stored during this period.

Over the same period, eight acute patient administration systems were deployed in hospitals across the country, while more than one million appointments were made using Choose and Book.

The quarter also saw 9,145,435 — 11 percent of all daily prescriptions — transmitted using the electronic prescription service.

The report claims that the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) local ownership programme (NLOP) has already given strategic health authorities significantly greater influence and control over the rollout and implementation of the NPfIT in their areas.

Under the NLOP, Connecting for Health retains responsibility for the commercial and contractual aspects of the NPfIT, while local organisations take over responsibility for implementing the objectives.