 |
|
| CURRENT SECTION :: Jobs | UK's most visited IT Contractor Site - 250k unique visitors March 2008 |
|
 |
Known for his combative style when defending IT systems in the NHS, it seems unlikely that Richard Granger would give his “whining” critics any more ammunition. But yesterday the former head of the world’s largest civilian IT project was reported as saying he felt “ashamed” of some systems being installed into hospitals. He reportedly singled out IT contractor Cerner for criticism, and questioned whether he, as overseer of the programme, had put in systems that succeed in making life easier for doctors and nurses. “Sometimes we fail to do that miserably,” Mr Granger told the current edition of CIO magazine. “Sometimes we put stuff in that I’m just ashamed of. Some of the stuff that Cerner has put in recently is appalling... Now they’re being held to account because that’s my job.” Technology installed by the contractor “isn’t useable because they have been building a system with Fujitsu without listening to what the end users want,” Mr Granger reportedly added. In the interview, the 42-year-old said accusations of budget overruns on his watch are “complete garbage,” citing “hysterical coverage” that suggests the NHS IT programme should be written off. He claimed confusion over the costs of the National Programme stem from two calculations: the first is the £12bn projection – based on a private sector estimate of the build and operating costs over 10 years. The second, is the value of the IT contracts - £6.2bn, which covers the first three years of the programme, but excluded any costs for engineering. “One thing I’m very proud of is we’ve not had a large scale system build out that’s been a failure for which the taxpayer has had to pick up the tab,” Mr Granger said in his interview. “Where are the large systems, the £10m, £100m, £200m software builds that got quietly shut down, a few people got fired and it all got covered up? They don’t exist here.” He added that while there been “some timeframe and normal lifecycle difficulties” they had been “blown out of proportion.” Reflecting on the interview yesterday, Connecting for Health told The Daily Telegraph that it disputes the accuracy of Mr Granger’s reported comments. Jul 11, 2007 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
|
|
 
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All content © Contractor UK Limited | [Register for News Letter] | [Privacy Statement] | [Terms of Use] | [Top of Page] |