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The department said on 1 April 2010 that it has signed a new memorandum of understanding with BT, the provider in London, but not CSC. It had previously set a deadline of the end of March for the National Programme system to go live at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS trust.
"We want trusts to be able to choose how National Programme for IT products can work with local systems that remain fit for purpose," the department said. "This new flexible framework is the basis of our memorandum of understanding with BT and will be the basis for an MOU we expect to sign with CSC once University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS trust goes live with Lorenzo.
"While we are disappointed that we have not been able to agree both MOUs, we are expecting our current review with CSC of delivery plans to achieve significant savings, while building on the gains already made for patients, clinicians and managers," it added.
A spokesperson confirmed that CSC has not received payment for its work at Morecambe Bay, as this is linked to delivery of the system.
In an interview with the Financial Times, the department's chief information officer Christine Connelly said the government retains the option of cancelling its contract with CSC and letting hospitals choose suppliers as they wish. "We cannot wait forever," she told the paper.
However, Connelly also said that the trust is keen to continue with the project, and under its contract CSC will be able to propose a new deadline. The department will then decide whether this is credible.
University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay said on 31 March that it still expected to put Lorenzo live, but could not say when. "We remain committed to being the first acute trust in England to go live with Lorenzo Regional Care 1.9 but we will make sure it works for us and our patients before we roll it out across our hospitals," said chief executive Tony Halsall.
"We remain confident in Lorenzo and have made positive progress towards launching it, both in terms of training thousands of staff and rigorously testing the system. The trust board will confirm when it is assured that we are ready to go live." The trust added it could not currently provide a date for the system to be implemented.
CSC and iSoft had not made any comment as of lunchtime on 1 April.
"As another deadline passes for the NPfIT another crisis emerges," noted Chris Pennell, a senior analyst at Kable. "The failure of CSC to go live with Lorenzo in Morecambe Bay, while putting extra pressure on the provider, is unlikely to lead to the cancellation of the contract as this would only cause to undermine the programme further.
"However, it is possible that in future we could see the contract opened to a wider set of suppliers, similar to the framework in place in the southern cluster after the exit of Fujitsu. This would in turn present opportunities for other suppliers."
BT to cut NPfIT charges by £112m
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