Taxpayers face a rising, multi-billion pound bill for a failed government IT scheme. (J.F.Cherry, Flickr)

RADIO:

It’s been revealed that a failed IT system designed for the National Health Service has cost taxpayers nearly £10 billion so far. In a devastating new report by the Public Accounts Committee, the system has been labelled “the biggest IT failure ever seen”.

Originally aimed at centralising health records the computerised system has never seen the light of day.

Nima Green reports for VoR.

The scheme was launched during Blair’s Labour government in 2002, and was initially estimated to cost £6.4 billion.

However, far from making the NHS more efficient, attempts to implement the IT system descended into chaos, with spiralling costs, delays, and contracting issues.

And despite having being abandoned, the Department of Health estimates the cost will be £9.8 billion, but the PAC warn that continuing legal issues with several contractors mean that the final bill will be even higher still.

Richard Bacon, an MP on the PAC, has called the NHS system “the biggest public sector fiasco ever.”

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