According to reports, a leaked document from BT stated that contractual issues had affected the current projects with BT and consequently there have been delays, which have adversely affected the interim milestones.
Speaking at a press conference in London, NHS IT chief Richard Granger confirmed that BT had missed certain interim targets on its project to install a new national broadband network across the UK. It is also thought to have missed targets on its other two projects to develop a national patient record database and to run the new IT services across the London region.
The broadband deal signed in February is worth 530m pounds ($969.9m) to BT over the next seven years, and once finished will enable some 18,000 NHS sites across the UK to distribute patient records electronically. However, according to Granger, BT has already missed targets for delivering parts of the project, which will mean it will have to pay a financial penalty to the NHS. This is expected to be less than 1m pounds ($1.83m).
The other deals BT signed in December 2003. In the first deal, BT, with its subcontractors LogicaCMG, Oracle and Sun Microsystems, won a 10-year, 620m pound ($1.13bn) contract to design, deliver and manage a national patient-record database and transactional messaging service. When fully implemented, the NHS Care Records Service will enable NHS organizations to record and exchange patient and care information electronically, eliminating duplication of patient files and improving information sharing between healthcare professionals
The other deal is the 10-year local service provider contract worth 966m pound ($1.77bn) to provide systems to access and use the new IT services in the London region. BT has said the deals will enable it to book 50m pounds ($86.6m) of additional revenue this year and 150m pounds ($260m) next year. The company beat rivals IBM and Lockheed Martin for the regional contract.
BT’s three deals with the NHS are worth a combined total of 2.15bn pounds ($3.93bn), and this makes the company the biggest single beneficiary of IT projects handed out by the NHS in its 6bn pounds ($11bn) modernization program.
