GP systems create £1.6m in recurrent savings

More than 600 GP systems had been installed under the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) by the end of March last year creating recurring savings of £1.6m, according to figures from the Department of Health (DH).

The DH’s first annual benefits statement shows that 632 GP systems had been installed by March 2007, which the DH says has brought £617,000 of savings in software licence and hardware maintenance costs with recurring savings of more than £1.6m per year.

The benefits statement about progress so far on NPfIT shows that overall the programme had spent barely half the amount it had planned to by March 2007 due to lengthy delays in the delivery of local electronic patient record systems.

Overall the NHS has made one off savings of more than £208m and expects to make recurrent savings of around £120m each year, according to the DH.

The report states that more than 8,000 Choose and Book systems had been installed by March 2007 and says a number of organisations have reported reductions in the time taken to process a GP referral since the implementation of Choose and Book.

The report adds: “In some locations the reduction has been up to 88% with the time taken for a patient to receive an appointment falling by up to 93%. The number of patients failing to attend a booked appointment has also reduced by 23% and this continues to improve.”

The DH says work is underway to develop consistent benchmarks and ways of measuring these benefits.

The benefits statement predicts that Choose and Book will become more widespread and that, in primary care, improvements will be made to the Quality Management and Analysis System (QMAS) and GP clinical systems to support the operation of the Quality and Outcomes Framework. Further implementation of the GP Systems of Choice initiative, the Electronic Prescription Service and GP2GP is also promised.

Health minister Ben Bradshaw said: “Our use of computer technology in the NHS is becoming the envy of the world. It is saving lives, saving time and saving money. If you talk to health and IT experts anywhere in the world they point to Britain as example of computer technology being used successfully to improve health services to the public."

Fiona Barr