DH expects £4.3 billion in NME benefits

The North, Midlands and East programme for IT is predicted to reap benefits of more than £4.3 billion, with more than 60% expected from the delivery of TPP’s SystmOne.

An NMEPfIT Non-Lorenzo Statement of Progress 2012, released by the National Audit Office to EHI under the Freedom of Information Act, says that by the end of life, the total cost of the NME programme will be nearly £3.9 billion at current prices.

The cost at 2004-2005 prices is £2.9 billion, of which £1.6 billion is direct contract costs with CSC, nearly £500m in other central costs and more than £800m in local costs.

Under the national programme, CSC was due to deliver its Lorenzo electronic patient record system to more than 160 acute, mental health and community trusts in the NME.

However, constant delays to the readiness of Lorenzo meant that by 2011, around 130 interim systems had been delivered instead under the national programme.

A large chunk of the £4.3 billion benefits, the vast majority of which are still to be achieved, are expected to be reached through the delivery of these systems to community and mental health trusts.

Around £2.6 billion in benefits is expected to come from trusts using TPP’s SystmOne by the end of life of the programme, despite only £250m identified by March 2012.

About £700m in benefits is expected from deployment of ‘interim system’, such as iSoft’s iCM and iPM and another £800m in ‘cost avoidance’.

The 2012 statement of costs and benefits excludes all Lorenzo figures as CSC and the Department of Health were still under contract negotiations at the time.

In September last year, a new deal was announced that removed CSC’s exclusive rights as IT provider in the NME. However, trusts that choose to take the system can still get central funding for software and support.

When questioned by the Public Accounts Committee earlier this year, Tim Donohoe, the senior responsible owner for the local service provider programmes at the DH, said the government’s total predicted spend on the Lorenzo system is nearly £600m.

EHI reported earlier this year that the NAO’s note to the committee regarding NPfIT said a number of trusts had failed to report benefits of the programme.

The NAO was sceptical of the figures in this report, saying there is “very considerable uncertainty” about whether the benefits forecast by the DH can really be achieved.

The national programme was officially killed off in September 2010 and is being steadily dismantled.