Secrecy in the NHS

Computer Business Review Online reports that the veil of secrecy over NHS IT contracts has started to lift. The Freedom of Information Act, even in its emasculated state, has elicited a certain amount of information, and this despite the government's demand that NHS officials refuse FoIA requests while they consider publishing some details of the projects. As well as this, companies involved in the contracts have been hit by losses due to government delays and have been forced to issue profits warnings, allowing further details to leak out.

What is clear from the report is that the contracts are suffering the array of cockups that always accompany government IT projects. Fujitsu, Tata and Accenture have all been hit. CSC and BT have yet to report their results.

I sense a shambles coming on.