Rotherham boss: hospital IT faces skills shortage

Brian James, chief executive of the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, said that he has brought staff in from eastern Europe, Israel and Australia to work on introducing Meditech's software across the trust, the first wave of which is due to go live on 30 May 2011. The trust bought the system outside the NHS National Programme for IT, arguing that it was an "interim" system – due to last 15 years. "We just couldn't find the skills, it was very difficult to get the people with skills to join us," James told a session at EHI Live in Birmingham on 10 November 2010. He added that this was in 2007-8, when the project started, and the problem is likely to have got worse. "We had to bring in a lot of talent, including from overseas." However, "we had to dismiss a few people who weren't up to the job, and recruit more". He added that there was a similar problem with suppliers: "Many vendors no longer have fit for UK deployments," James said. Rotherham is having to work with US vendor Meditech on 'anglicising' its software, as it is the first UK deployment of this version of the product. James also added that cheap loans from the NHS Bank, which Rotherham used to help pay for the £30m project, are no longer available. Although he said that the improvements in service quality and efficiency are likely to be worth £7m to £14m annually, he added that it was very difficult to find strong evidence for return on investment to make a business case. The software is being funded from existing clinical budgets across the trust at a cost of £3m to £4m annually, and the trust has made use of 'lean' techniques to redesign processes alongside the software's introduction. "It completely redesigns the way you work," James said. In almost every case, data entered will be codified using the Snomed system, rather than in free text, allowing much easier analysis. James said that the main efficiency would involve job cuts: "The benefits are around large numbers of staff leaving the organisation," he said. The trust has prepared for this by making extensive use of temporary contracts, with more than 200 people employed in this way. This will help reduce posts in a way that does not damage the trust's reputation, he argued. He said that the trust is looking at extending use of the Meditech system to local GPs and community services, many of which use SystmOne. Interoperability work should mean integration with the majority of GPs with two or three years, although there are problems on connectivity with community staff working outside their workplaces.