Faulty IT system caused hospital chaos

4:02pm Wednesday 13th August 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

HUNDREDS of operations have been cancelled and dozens more delayed at Barnet and Chase Farm hospitals as a result of a faulty computer system.

The system has caused chaos since being introduced last year, with 272 elective operations cancelled at the last minute for “non-clinical reasons”.

The extent of the problem was revealed in reports to Enfield Primary Care Trust’s board, which showed that a further 63 patients had their operations delayed because staff could not locate information vital to their care.

The hospitals were the first to roll out the Cerner Millennium computer system to improve patient administration as part of a £13 billion IT programme across the NHS, but the system was plagued with problems from the start.

The system was introduced in July last year and the records of around 500,000 patients were transferred on to the system. By August it had emerged that the system was faulty.

Reports to Enfield PCT, obtained by the Observer newspaper and Computer Weekly magazine, also revealed that the system had failed to flag up child abuse victims entering the hospital.

A spokeswoman for Barnet and Chase Farm NHS Trust said: “At no time have children been put in danger as the risk registers are available to all front line A&E staff independently of the system.

“The new computer system was installed more than a year ago and we have never hidden the fact that there were issues at the beginning.

“In response to complaints the trust has changed its appointments system and invested in a new call centre to ensure patients’ calls are answered promptly by trained staff.”

The call centre, which opened in May, cost the trust £300,000.

Alex Nunes, of the trust’s recently disbanded Patient and Public Involvement Forum, said: “You can’t blame a trust for a system that it didn’t develop and was put in at the behest of the Government.

“Barnet and Chase Farm have had problems that others which didn’t adopt it as early were able to iron out.

“It was much worse last year when people were getting sent letters about appointments they hadn’t made. But they’re working to solve it and they’re gradually getting over it.”

A spokesman for NHS Connect, which manages IT for the NHS, said the introduction of the system was one of the largest IT change programmes in the world, making “challenges” inevitable.