Hospital boss slams patient records system
Andrew Way, the chief executive of the Royal Free Hospital, said the move to electronic records had cost the hospital £10m, increased waiting times for patients and required an extra 40 admin staff.
Way told the BBC he had personally apologised to staff for taking the decision to go ahead with the project. Way said it cost £10m to implement the technology and fix it. He estimates it cost the hospital another £6m because it treated less patients and because the system failed to properly bill other parts of the NHS for work done.
Way said: "I think it is very disappointing that the work we had to do as a trust has caused our staff so much heart-ache and hard work.
"I have personally apologised for the decision to implement the system before we were really clear about what we were going to receive.
"I had been led to believe it would all work."
The Royal Free is one of the early adopters for the increasingly beleagured project. Last month the Public Accounts Committee suggested giving the scheme another six months to show some improvement or put it out of its misery.
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