British NHS supercomputer program under review

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ComputerWorld UK had an article last week about increasing pain in the British government’s troubled IT program in the National Health Service. Some high points:

The Conservative party has commissioned the British Computer Society to review NHS IT policy including the £12.7 billion National Programme for IT, which they claim is “crashing down”.

The review is the latest sign that the NHS IT programme, now four years late, will be a political battleground in the next general election. Some projections have even predicted the programme will go over £20 billion.

…Shadow health minister Stephen O’Brien, who has labelled the national programme a “monolithic top down, centralised, one size fits all NHS supercomputer system”, has relentlessly questioned MPs about the programme in recent months.