The nhs civilian it project case study

It recommends alternative approaches that would have propelled the project to success. Questions Timeline of Events 12 February 2002 Prime Minister Tony Blair chairs a seminar at 10 Downing Street on the need to adopt information technology in the British health sector (Campion-Awwad et al. The seminar discussed the failures of the previous attempts to establish a similar system. In attendance was Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Tony Blair buys the idea fully. 2003 Chief Operating Officer and the Public Advisory Board appointed. December 2003 Lord Hunt resigns from the government. Sir John Pattison also resigned as the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) for NPfIT. March 2004 Dr Aidan Halligan replaced Sir John Pattison. April 2004 Professor Hutton resigned as the person in charge of clinical input at NPfIT. The project was a conception of the Cabinet that then sought to push it down to the Trusts and the healthcare system (Syal).

While the aims of the project were laudable and noble, the deliverability of the scope of the project was in question from the beginning (Hefford). The technocrats versed in the IT sector were involved after the main decisions had been made and their role remained to execute a project whose structure and design was flawed from the beginning. Buy-In The NPfIT failed to win buy-in at the most critical level (Flinders). The designers of the project focused on the IT nature of the project and they ignored the actual purpose it was supposed to serve: easing access to healthcare services. Change of Leadership The NPfIT was riddled with too much resignation among the senior management (Campion-Awwad, 17). Few project managers stayed longer than one year.

Their successors had little time to understand the project and they too resigned in a short time. The resignations led to the loss of corporate management knowledge and skill necessary for the project. Multi-sourcing The NPfIT contracted many service providers to supply their expertise in the different regions of the UK. In addition, the management should have embraced a consultative approach that enabled all the players to participate fully. The management should also have been given the mandate to make changes in the project design and execution to improve its chances of success. Factor Control Project Manager The structure and Buy-In The project manager had the power to bring the end-users on board from the moment he took over the running of the project (Smith).

The inclusion of the end-users of the system would have won their acceptance of the system. The Pace The project manager was experienced in running big projects (Campion-Awwad, 23). According to Campion-Awwad et al. (17, 18), the outcome-based specification for the NPfIT had been drawn up by the technocrats of the Department of Health. The Director General of the project was appointed after the final OBS had been approved and he was under obligation to only implement the project. The strategic plan had been drawn by technocrats removed from the reality of implementing a project of that nature. It was therefore impossible for the Director-General and his team to make any meaningful changes. Flinders, Karl. “The world's biggest civilian IT project looks to have failed but is NHS IT failure a surprise?” Computer Weekly 22 September 2011.