Bill for NHS database "fiasco" still rising, MPs warn The taxpayer is still paying for the failed NHS patient IT programme, according to a Commons watchdog, which describes it as "one of the worst and most expensive contracting fiascos in the history of the public sector." The public accounts committee report on Wednesday comes days after the National Audit Office criticised Universal Credit, the flagship welfare reform programme. Richard Bacon, a Conservative member of the committee, said that the problems with UC showed there was "still a long way to go before government departments can honestly say that they have learnt and properly applied the lessons from previous contracting failures such as the National Programme [the national patient database]. It should be plain to anyone that we are witnessing systemic failure in the government's ability to contract. The original vision of an electronic record for every patient delivered through a centralised computer system was abandoned two years ago after big cost overruns. However, the MPs said that in effect the programme remained in place with components which continued to rack up significant costs. Calling for the health department to report details of all the additional expenditure to parliament, including legal costs, it said that the benefits achieved to date were "extremely disappointing." In March 2012, the department had estimated them at £3.7bn, "just half the costs incurred to this point." The MPs said that the full pricetag was still unclear but the department's most recent forecast was now £9.8bn. Mr Bacon said that most of the benefits of the programme, in terms of financial savings, efficiency gains and wider benefits such as patients spending less time chasing referrals, were yet to be delivered. He warned: "There is a risk that some of these benefits may never materialise. Unless the department acts on the lessons of the failed National Programme it is unlikely to deliver the new vision of a paperless NHS by 2018. The committee noted that some parts of the scheme had been delivered successfully but others ran into difficulties. The company behind the programme, Computer Sciences Corporation, had originally been given a £3.1bn deal to deliver care records systems to 220 trusts in the north, Midlands and east. However, in 2011 the health department had decided to renegotiate the contracts because of delays in developing its Lorenzo software. Despite two years of talks, the full "reset" contract had yet to be agreed with CSC, say the MPs, but the department estimated it was still likely to cost about £2.2bn. This figure was based on the assumption that only 22 trusts would take the system. The committee said the department's hand had been weakened by its promise to CSC that the system would be used in 160 trusts in the north and Midlands. "This cost should have been less had the department not undermined its negotiating position by being unable to honour its side of the deal," said the committee. The report also warned that the final costs would be inflated by the termination of a contract for care records systems in the south of England with Fujitsu, where arbitration was continuing. These costs, it warned, were likely to be significant. Dan Poulter, health minister, blamed the fiasco on the previous government. Labour squandered billions on their failed NHS IT programme. It is deeply frustrating that they also tied current ministers" and taxpayers" hands with ongoing liabilities from their wasteful contracts," he said. CSC defended its systems, saying they provide critical services to primary care, acute care and emergency services. Services provided by CSC under the programme reach 500,000 registered NHS users and support 25m patient records. The achievements so far, and the value to taxpayers and patients, shouldn't be discounted.