NHS system loses waiting lists

28 Apr 2009

The NHS's multibillion pound patient system is losing waiting lists.

Thousands of patient details have been discovered on "lost" waiting lists in London hospitals. The Trusts are now struggling to clear the backlog.

An investigation was launched last autumn after the waiting list details of over 2,000 patients were discovered.

The Cerner Millennium patient administration system has left early adopter trusts in difficulty coping with waiting lists and looking for alternative hospitals for patients requiring more urgent treatment.

The worst affected was Barts and the London Trust, according to research by the Guardian newspaper and Computer Weekly. But the lists may represent only a "fraction" of the total number of lost cases.

The news is another blow for the NHS' £12.7 billion IT programme, which is running four years late and has lost two of its four main contractors.

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