Key part of new NHS IT is well behind schedule

silicon.com is reporting that the first live implementation of NHS's patient administration system has failed to meet its deadline.

"The Lorenzo patient administration system - a computer system designed to handle electronic patient records and book appointments - was scheduled to go live at hospitals under the Morecambe Bay University Hospitals NHS Trust in Kendall in Cumbria at the end of March

"The hospitals would have been the first in the country to be running the latest version of the software but CSC, the US supplier installing the system, failed to hit the 31 March target for delivery.

"The Lorenzo system has been being rolled out to health trusts by CSC since 2008 but its implementation has repeatedly slipped. The Department of Health (DoH) has now told CSC it must submit a revised plan for how it will implement the system or risk being dismissed as a contractor to the DoH."