NHS hospital bought 'computer parts off eBay'
Patients are being put at risk because of delays in implementing the new NHS computer system, according to a study of senior managers. Parts of the £12.4 billion National Programme for IT (NPfIT) are years behind schedule.
Experts writing online in the British Medical Journal say today that senior managers supported the aims of the system but they had concerns.
Many believe patients are being put at risk by delays. Managers are left relying on outdated patient information systems and some trusts have even considered buying interim programmes while they wait for system to get off the ground, the study found.
One manager said: "It's been urgent that it's replaced all the time I've been here, which is about three and a half years... It is a clinical risk."
Another described the current system as "not just obsolescent, it's obsolete" and said the trust had had to buy computer parts off eBay and get them shipped from the US.
Researchers interviewed 25 senior managers and clinicians, including chief executives and directors of IT, in four hospital trusts in England.
From:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/17/nparts17.xml
It's not the first time that NHS professionals have had to resort to eBay for sourcing their equipment. On May 25, 06 Health Direct posted: Surgeon used eBay to buy equipment- and has it confiscated.
A surgeon has upset hospital bosses by ordering medical equipment through the auction website eBay. Kevin Murray, a newly appointed consultant at the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk, had been asked to provide a list of the equipment he would need for his operating theatre.
Mr Murray decided to save time by bypassing the NHS procurement system and using eBay. But when officials found out, the retractor was confiscated.
Experts writing online in the British Medical Journal say today that senior managers supported the aims of the system but they had concerns.
Many believe patients are being put at risk by delays. Managers are left relying on outdated patient information systems and some trusts have even considered buying interim programmes while they wait for system to get off the ground, the study found.
One manager said: "It's been urgent that it's replaced all the time I've been here, which is about three and a half years... It is a clinical risk."
Another described the current system as "not just obsolescent, it's obsolete" and said the trust had had to buy computer parts off eBay and get them shipped from the US.
Researchers interviewed 25 senior managers and clinicians, including chief executives and directors of IT, in four hospital trusts in England.
From:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/17/nparts17.xml
It's not the first time that NHS professionals have had to resort to eBay for sourcing their equipment. On May 25, 06 Health Direct posted: Surgeon used eBay to buy equipment- and has it confiscated.
A surgeon has upset hospital bosses by ordering medical equipment through the auction website eBay. Kevin Murray, a newly appointed consultant at the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk, had been asked to provide a list of the equipment he would need for his operating theatre.
Mr Murray decided to save time by bypassing the NHS procurement system and using eBay. But when officials found out, the retractor was confiscated.
Labels: eBay, IT-disaster, NPfIT
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