Computer Weekly reports that a major London hospital, Barts, could pay a very high price for problems associated with the implementation of new systems, part of the NHS programme for IT.
If I read this article correctly, Barts is forecasting an additional spend of nearly £1M for temporary staff AND an income shortfall of £3M for this year. Which makes the unexpected cost of implementation almost £4M.
Of course these are provisional sums and estimates, which might go either way. Nevertheless these are frightening, direct on-costs of a system implementation. Money that will not be available for patient care.
However, money is not the only issue at stake. When it comes to treating patients, time is generally the predominant factor. For some people, system induced inefficiencies will be vital, in every sense of the word.
