ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies a number of key issues and asks if there was a better way. The companies selected would introduce new Information Technology (IT) systems and processes to Europe's largest public sector organisation, the National Health Service (NHS) in England. The contracts, which were originally due to run for seven years, until December 2010, are now more than halfway through, but at this stage, as 2008 is ticked off the calendar, all is not well with the National Programme for IT (NPfIT). The national application service providers (NASPs) will deliver national applications such as the Choose and Book service and the National Care Records Service (NCRS): the National Data Spine and the Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (ETP) – are called 'The Electronic Prescription Service' (EPS). A national approach has several problems, not least that a myriad of small suppliers have been pushed out of the picture.
