Lorenzo slipped ‘months ago’ say reports

A confidential report on the development of iSoft’s Lorenzo system has revealed delivery deadlines actually slipped several months ago, according to national media coverage.

The Guardian newspaper and Computer Weekly magazine claim a leaked report produced by CSC, local service provider to the North, Midlands and East Programme for IT clearly states deadlines laid out in the LSP’s ‘Penfield’ strategy.

According to the Guardian, the document blames delays in part on serious staffing issues at IBA Healthcare, parent company of iSoft.

The newspaper adds the report also flags as "red" concerns that resources have been diverted in order to meet the first milestone deadline for Lorenzo release 1 – which as EHI reported last week, missed its target launch date of 16 June.

Lorenzo had initially been due to be rolled out from March 2004 and has missed a series of revised delivery dates since. This week, NHS chief executive, David Nicholson, told the Public Accounts Committee: "It will go live when the quality is right…The software is actually in the trust and is being tested."

He added: "We are in a position now where Lorenzo actually has a product and it would be ridiculous now to just dump that."

Last month, North West Strategic Health Authority said it did not expect full installation of the strategic Lorenzo electronic patient record software until 2016, a year later the date set out in last week’s National Audit Office report.