NHS to be switched over to open source

In a stunning U-turn the government has today announced that the NHS will be switched en masse to a new NHS-wide open source clinical system in just 12-months time.

On the stroke of midnight, 1 April, 2012, all NHS trusts, primary care trusts and GP practices will have to simultaneously switch off all of their current systems to a new open source clinical system, codenamed NHS Mastadon. 

The new integrated NHS Mastadon clinical system will be developed specifically for the English NHS over the next six months by developers working offshore in the Faroe Islands. 

Open source experts welcomed the government’s dramatic conversion to the potential of open source software for healthcare, but questioned whether they had fully grasped the concept.

Eschewing existing highly successful open source clinical systems, most notably the US Veteran Administration’s Vista system, the British government has instead decided to pay to have an NHS-specific ‘open source’ system built for it from the ground up.

“Open source is a great option for the NHS, the software is free and supported by a highly capable international community who work together collaboratively,” said one insider. "It also helps avoid lock-in to proprietory systems."

They added: “However, we’ve decided that the NHS is exceptional and rather than use any of the proven systems available we will ditch everything the NHS currently has and build our own proporietory system from scratch. We’ve being very open about that.”

NHS organisations will be charged an above market rate to use the standardised Mastadon system, which will deliver slightly less functionality than organisations currently have and come in one flavour across the whole health service.  Trusts and GP practices that don’t use the system will face steep penalties.

EHI understands that a mega-billion Mastadon contract has already been awarded to Leviathan Corporation following a pretty nifty powerpoint presentation to ministers.

One insider present at the key meeting said “It was a great presentation, it had a video clip, a picture of some paper patient records that had fallen off a shelf and a Dilbert cartoon,” the minister was really impressed.

Binding contracts have already been signed that irrevocably commit all parts of the health service to the national system, whether or not it is delivered on time.

As part of his commitment to devolution in the NHS the Secretary of State has said he will personally micro-manage all aspects of the project. A big red box with a plunger on the top is to be installed in his office to enable him to ensure the big bang happens.

In an unusual step the contracting authority has, on the advice of its consultants Gargantuafees, decided not to set a detailed specification or statement of requirements. Leviathan will deliver NHS Mastadon as a “cloudy and overcast platform”.

Learning crucial lessons from the recent NHS IT programme a consultation process to secure essential clinical buy-in will be launched sometime late in the summer when everyone is away.

A poorly place source told EHI: “The Cabinet Office may be pushing for smaller less ambitious IT projects but the Department of Health knows better.  Its decided that the real problem with the £12.7 billion National Programme for IT in the NHS was that it wasn’t sufficiently big or ambitious enough.”

The source added: “We said the NHS needed saving and with this project it really will. Anyway if it all goes wrong we can always blame it on the Liberal Democrats.”

One trust IT director told EHI: “We’re half-way through an NPfIT implementation we’ve waited years for; are about to become a foundation trust; have to deliver huge efficiency gains and have to cope with the new NHS market. Is this some sort of joke?