NAO probes NHS spending on BT services

Controversy continues to dog NHS IT strategy with the news that the National Audit Office (NAO) is to investigate the National Programme for IT in the NHS (NPfIT) payments to BT.

The investigation will probe whether BT was paid £400 million over the market price for work on the National Programme. The inquiry was prompted by Conservative MP Richard Bacon, a senior member of the Public Accounts Committee, who has suggested that BT has been paid £546 million for work that he estimates is worth no more than £150 million.

For its part, the Department of Health says spending decisions were supported by advice from a range of consultants. "The contract extension renegotiated and agreed with BT followed all appropriate governance. The principle of payment on delivery has been maintained and continues to protect the taxpayer by ensuring suppliers are only paid when they have delivered” said a spokesman.

The £546 million deal was announced in April this year and saw BT inherit responsibilities from Fujitsu which had left the National Programme.  BT said it will co-operate with any NAO requests but a spokesman added that it was “confident it reflects what we have been asked to deliver based on the requirements set by the NHS.

Although the NHS National Programme was scaled back earlier this year, BT received £123.7m from the department between May and September, making it the biggest commercial supplier to the Department of Health.  CSC and BT – as the two remaining prime contractors left in the National Programme – hold contracts theoretically worth a total of £3 billion.