Wednesday, May 03, 2000 $11m computer dumped

HAMILTON -- Health Waikato has dumped its $11 million computer system with the three board members blamed for buying it under pressure to resign from Heath Minister Annette King.

In Wellington, Capital Coast Health has abandoned part of its controversial $26m computer system.

Health Waikato has spent $9m of the $11m budgeted for the Shared Medical Systems computer system, which is yet to be switched on.

Health Waikato interim chairman Ian Wilson said that the system would be ditched because it would not improve on the system Health Waikato already had.

Furthermore, it would cost less to scrap SMS than spend another $10m to make it work.

In addition, Health Waikato was not ready for the system and staff rejected it.

"These three reasons made discontinuation the least expensive and most responsible approach, in both financial and strategic terms," he said.

Mrs King said the Government could not tolerate millions of dollars being wasted. "Someone has to be held accountable," she said. Mrs King has asked three board members, involved in the 1998 decision to buy SMS, to fall on their swords.

The board members are former Hamilton mayor Margaret Evans, Tainui's chief legal adviser, Shane Solomon, and Taupo accountant David Wickham.

Mrs King called the programme a waste of money that could have been spent on health care.

"The Waikato fiasco has been an expensive lesson. There was no sense of IT direction given by the former government," she said.

"Instead, 22 different hospital and health services went their own way. I won't tolerate that, and taxpayers won't any longer either." She said Government spending on IT systems was now on hold.

Mr Wilson said canning the SMS system would "have no impact whatsover" on the amount of money Health Waikato had to fund the delivery of services to patients. He said Health Waikato would employ an information officer to plan for the organisation's information technology needs, ensuring staff had the opportunity to contribute to future clinical and business IT developments.

Problems with the system, bought in late 1998, were highlighted in the Government's health select committee report released last month. The committee was told of concerns about the lack of qualified staff to run it, lack of expert support ,and the cost of enhancement.

Independent consultants Simsion Bowles and Associates identified problems with costs, the implementation team's skills, and a lack of acceptance. The resignations of three high-level Health Waikato officials in the past 18 months have been linked to opposition to buying the SMS system.

Former chief executive Garry Smith left suddenly in October 1998. A payout of between $150,000 and $185,000 included a clause that he kept quiet about why he left.

Health Waikato deputy chairman Max Lamb and group manager of finance and audit Ben Smit both quit in January last year. Both also refused to discuss in detail the reasons for their departures although it is understood they had concerns about the SMS system.

Former Health Waikato chairman Jack Jenkins, who was in charge at the time of the purchase and resigned last December, could not be contacted for comment.

It was revealed on Monday that Capital Coast Health had abandoned its SMS computer project in its pharmacy and laboratories.

http://www.press.co.nz/2000/18/000503n06.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 04, 2000