CSC confirms $1.5bn NHS IT write-off CSC has confirmed it is to write off almost $1.5bn as a result of its involvement in the National Programme for IT (NPfIT). In December 2011 the company, which had been contracted to supply electronic patient records systems to a number of NHS trusts, warned shareholders it may lose an amount equal to, or in excess of, its $1. …
> these discussions have evolved into a potential go-forward framework that is currently in the government's review process,
If we're lucky the government might bung some sympathy work our way. If that does happen, and our shares get back to anything like last year's level you won't see me (or the rest of the board) for dust.
Now where did I leave my golden parachute?
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I'm going to have to sit down.
Seriously how often does a major UK institution get money *back* from one of the usual suspects?
Trouble is they will be back sniffing round for the next round of reforms, no doubt pitching some kind of "accreditation management system" (WTF that is as it won't exist when they actually start talking about how great it is) to "help" those (budget holding) GP's hold their budgets (and get a chunk of them in the process).
Personally I think the only think that *really* improves these guys will be being publicly *banned* from bidding by an organization they screwed over for X years.
Otherwise it's the banking crisis all over again. Personal gains are kept and the stockholders pick up the pieces, no matter *how* insane the implementation plan was.
Heads I get a $1m bonus, tails you see your shares drop 50%.
Thumbs up for the NHS growing a set big enough to get something substantial off them.
but I suspect CSC will learn nothing from the experience other than cover their tracks better next time.
Who said anything about money going back?
This is all about money they have spent that has not resulted in payments coming from the customer. Still a quite good thing from the NHS's point of view, but I'm sure everyone really wanted a working, applicable system developed within the budget.
Still, not sure whether that was ever possible.
A framework is an agreement that lets you bid for contracts, so I suspect a go-forward framework is an agreement that lets you bid for frameworks.
And knowing how popular CSC are in government, that probably is the upside for them.
Most likely they are just a set of words that popped up to fill the vacuum that is an executive's head these days.
Great! So NHS users are fucked by a half-arsed system. Shareholders lose out on an investment. Taxpayers already lost out when their money got sent up in smoke in the first place on this bunch of clowns.
Now let me see, who will actually walk away with a smug smile and pocket of cash, oh yes the directors and their MP mates who set up this huge scam!
I'm sorry, I've worked in startups and large corporates but I just can't understand how they could have possibly come up with such a large number for software development.
How can it possibly have cost $1.5B to build some patient record mgt. apps for some NHS trusts (i.e. not all of them)?
Up until the beginning of 2011 (pre the latest big cash injection from goldman sachs) facebook had a total investment of $800M. Now obviously at some point FB started generating actual operating income to offset cost but it's the largest social network in the world with something like 14x the number of users as there are people in the UK.
If you look back, Accenture jumped ship from this contract some years back as did Fujitsu, who now look to have engaged lawyers to sue HMG for monies they claim are due. If anything, I've some sympathy with CSC for hanging in there, trying to please the customer by keeping up with the moving goalposts that were the user requirements. Would be good to have a full detailed independent public enquiry into how the programme started, how it got to now, what went wrong and what could have been done earlier to sort it. I think the senior servants involved would fight that tooth and nail though.
Its hardly surprising they are loosing out, over promised and under delivered and did nothing but drive those of us FORCED to work with them round the twist!
I promise you there are at least a dozen companies who are jumping for joy as a result of the demise of NPfIT primarily as no one will be forced to integrate with the worse piece of programming since Windows ME!
They calculate the figure from teh projected revenue, they are 1.5Billion out of pocket, just 1.5billion short of what they thought they could scam out of the NHS and ultimately the tax payer!
Morons...
Probably because BT got paid for delivering their PoS spine network whereas the others were forced to invest millions in infrastructure for what seemed to be a guaranteed end user base that need 4 datacentres full of tech then got shafted by a completely inept CfH NPfIT whatever they're calling themselves this week...
So glad I ducked out of that fail waiting to happen years ago ;-)
PACS, Cerner Milleniom Acute and Rio Community and Mental Health applications to the majority of trusts in London and the South of England and I don't see them going to the wall.
Maybe it's just economies of scale - presumably BT has plenty of high capacity data centres piped in and ready to go.
Its hardly surprising.
I am sat at my Win XP PC using IE6 to post this.
To access the patient admin system I need my smartcard and logon.
To access the clinical system I have to logout of the admin system and log in to the clinical system
To access results I have to log on to a different programme using an RDC.
The PACS system requires a shut down of one of the above and a separate logon.
Utter and abject fail.
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