DAMNING REPORT INTO MANAGEMENT OF WELSH NHS INFORMATICS SYSTEMS

Damning report into management of Welsh NHS informatics systems

A scheme to digitise patient records in Wales is already outdated and prone to crashing, placing patients at risk, according to the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee.

The Committee found that since the NHS Wales Informatics Service was first envisioned in 2003, other technology products have been launched and improved while medical staff in Wales are still struggling with archaic and fragile IT systems which don’t deliver on their promises.

Velindre Cancer Centre reported:

“…one patient did not receive chemotherapy treatment, as blood results were unavailable; there was also a delay in radiotherapy treatment for eight patients.”

Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Affairs, Plaid Cymru Mid and West Wales AM Helen Mary Jones said:

“This report highlights that lines of accountability are unclear. The Welsh NHS is struggling to run its own data centres with 21 outages in the first 6 months of 2018 – one outage every 9 days. It is particularly concerning to learn from the Velindre NHS Trust of the negative impact on patient experience and on staff morale.

“The NHS Wales Informatics Service has to cooperate with other public bodies. This approach could work on a number of levels, from the sharing of good practice on recruitment to the creation of Government Digital Service which could work across multiple agencies.”