NHS to explore huge IT scheme

14 October 2020 Seamus Ward

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A document on the Official Journal of the European Union website, invites companies to complete a survey to inform a ‘discovery’ project that aims to assess the viability of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for the NHS in England.Tablet graph - landscape

The discovery document said the ERP could integrate electronic staff record (ESR) and finance systems across all NHS organisations. This could coincide with the NHS in England moving towards system working. However, it added that individual organisations (sometimes groups of organisations) have implemented their own applications creating a ‘diverse ecosystem’. Functions potentially needed included finance, planning and budgeting, procurement, recruitment, payroll, learning and talent management.

The cost of maintaining and upgrading these systems, together with their interfaces with other programmes, is significant, and both ESR and finance systems are ageing. The Department of Health and Social Care is considering replacing the ESR system, while NHS England is looking for a successor to the integrated single finance environment (ISFE), the finance system used by commissioners.

The fact that a replacement for both systems is due to go live in the next two or three years presented an opportunity to consider whether an integrated, cloud-based ERP could add significant value, the document said. It asked if this could be achieved given the size, complexity and cost of an all-England approach. It expected that an ERP, if chosen, would also be implemented over the next two or three years. The discovery project is due to report back by January 2021 with recommendations on how to proceed.

The survey includes questions on the potential cost of an ERP, value for money compared with procuring separate finance and HR solutions, market capacity and timeframe.

Giving their initial reaction on Twitter, NHS IT and procurement professionals’ reactions were mixed. While some felt it was time to integrate finance and HR systems, others were concerned that the sheer size and complexity of such a project would create huge risks.