The MPA of the Cabinet Office have published their report into National Programme for IT in England. Well, I was hoping for something better, I don’t mind the spelling mistakes, I guess they are using some new open source document software. I don’t mind the errors of fact, I really don’t mind that fact that it is dull and badly written.
I object to the months of rhetoric from the MPA that they are the experts… a Regimental Sergeant Major once told me… “you know what an expert is don’t you Sir… X the unknown quantity and spurt.. a drip under pressure”.
The first error is in Para 1, the statement it is not true and there is no point in belittling Consultants… they are the ones that are going to have to lead the NHS out of the blind alley that NPfIT and most of the report writers have taken it in the first place. Second issue is also with the paragraph 1 … it is about the only mention of Primary Care in the whole document… what were they thinking?
So my recommendation is… read it, you need to realise how bad things have got not; only with NHS IT but also the MPA’s ability to explain why things went so wrong.
I genuinely feel that the Cabinet Office think that no one could ever run an effective ICT project… so their answer is “don’t commission ICT projects”. The answers lies in having sufficient, capable and motivated ICT staff in Government…. sadly that may be more complex than the Gordian Knot…. and bold cuts will not solve this problem.
I won’t be writing my comments with a fountain pen on the report and sending it back to them.
