NHS FDs voice concern over IT funding
NHS finance directors are increasingly concerned that funding the new hi-tech computer network could hit their patient care budgets, according to the NHS Confederation.
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The new computer system the NHS is installing – part of the government’s drive to increase patient choice – is expected to cost taxpayers at least £15bn over the next 10 years, The Guardian reported.
But the NHS Confederation, which represents trusts and their senior managers, has said FDs fear they may have to dip into their own budgets allocated for patient care to help fund the computer system because the promised cost savings might not materialise.
Gary Fereday, the NHS confederation’s policy manager, said: ‘There is real unease, particularly among directors of finance in the NHS, about how they will fund this programme.’
