NHS record project suffering 'serious delays'
16/05/2008 14:50:36
An NHS project to transfrer patient records to electronic file has fallen further behind schedule, according to leading public spending experts.
Patient data security in England is set to be boosted by the transfer of hard-copy confidential information onto a national electronic database, but the National Audit Office now says this will not take place until 2014/15, four years later than expected.
While all aspects of the 12.7 billon project are said to be making progress, the NAO claim the government originally underestimated the scale of the challenge.
Tim Burr, head of the National Audit Office, stated "serious delays" were being experienced in delivering the new system.
He added: "Progress is being made, however, and financial savings and other benefits are beginning to emerge."
Meanwhile, it has been announced that IT security providers McAfee will provide data protection software for the centralised records system.
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