999 call computer crash puts patients in jeopardy

Two major computer crashes brought chaos to the London ambulance service and a leading London hospital on the same day.

Ambulance staff were forced to record emergency calls with pen and paper and find addresses using A toZs after their computerised system crashed early yesterday morning and a computer failure at the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust means patients face delays and records have been lost.

The multi-billion-pound IT system at fault is being rolled out nationally and there are fears other London hospitals will be hit with the same problems as they are forced to introduce it.

NHS computer expert Tony Collins said: "There is a question of whether patients are ending up as guinea pigs in a national political experiment."

Scores of angry paramedics complained on internet message boards about yesterday's computer glitch that took the London Ambulance Service more than 12 hours to repair.

Paramedic Mark Lione said: "We have gone back to basics on the road. Usually the calls are automatically dispatched to the nearest ambulance but we have gone back to the system we used five years ago, which will inevitably take longer."

At the Royal Free, staff said they spend longer working out how to use a new patient record system than with patients.

The system is being rolled out across the country as part of the NHS's £12.7billion National Programme for IT which is running four years late. St George's Healthcare NHS Trust in Tooting is believed to be the next in line to start using the Care Records Service.

The Royal Free introduced the system in June to reduce paperwork but since then it has crashed, leaving those waiting for operations and blood tests badly affected. When the same system was introduced at Bart's and The London NHS Trust, cancer patients missed critical appointments because their records were lost.

Mr Collins, executive editor of Computer Weekly, which has been tracking the IT system since it was announced in 2002, said: "Trusts are moving too quickly given the immature state of the system. It breaks down in different trusts for different reasons but it always ends up with patients getting the wrong appointments, being double booked or having their notes lost.

"There is so much secrecy around it that hospitals do not learn from the problems of other trusts.

"There are fears that Trusts are rolling out this system because it is free as it is funded by the Government. There is also pressure from politicians to make the programme be seen to be working."

A spokesman for the Royal Free said: "With change on this scale, it is inevitable that it will take time for staff to familiarise themselves fully with all the functions that they need to use but overall we are pleased with the progress being made.

"It is recognised that while staff are getting used to the system a small number of our patients may have to wait longer than expected in clinic."