Written question asked by Andrew Pelling (Conservative) on Friday, 6 October 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 October 2006. It was answered by Caroline Flint (Labour) on Friday, 20 October 2006 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Isoft

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what risks there are for the National Health Service posed by the financial losses of isoft.

Answer: The national health service currently uses iSOFT products extensively outside the national programme for information technology (IT) in the NHS. In light of the financial statements made by iSOFT, Connecting for Health reminded all NHS trusts that it was normal best practice to ensure that copies of the software they use is held in escrow allowed within their own locally owned contracts.Connecting for Health, the agency delivering the national programme for IT, does not contract directly with iSOFT. iSOFT is contracted to deliver clinical software to local service providers in three of the five clusters. One of the local service providers, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), has agreed with iSOFT additional rights to step in and undertake the management of development of iSOFT’s Lorenzo software in the event that iSOFT fails to meet its agreed delivery targets.This additional right by CSC adds greater certainty to the delivery of the Lorenzo product for the NHS in England.

Secondary information