THE future of Scotland’s NHS 24 telephone hotline has been cast into doubt as costs of its crisis-hit computer project soared by 73 per cent to £131 million, auditors have revealed.
New figures laying bare the spiralling cost of the IT system have come as it also emerged that the project will not be fully rolled out across Scotland until the end of next year - four years later than originally planned.
The call handling and IT system is now more than £55.2 million over budget. It was originally due to be ready for October 2013.
Costs have risen by £14 million in the last year alone, according to the Auditor General for Scotland, Caroline Gardner.
And for each month the system is not operational, is incurring £500,000 in additional costs.
Public finance watchdog Audit Scotland says the delays have created uncertainty over NHS 24’s sustainability.
The IT programme was due to be phased in for some services over the summer but with a national roll-out by the end of 2017.
Read more: Crisis-hit Scots NHS board has "no plan" to deal with £11.6m budget deficit, says auditor
Earlier this year, the planned June launch was pushed back to the "summer of 2016" after an issue that caused computer screens to appear blank.
It followed an earlier incident in which the system crashed and staff had to resort to pen and paper to deal with patient calls.
The programme was originally due to cost £75.8m and generate savings of £10m over 10 years.
Audit Scotland said: "The auditor has highlighted that, until the IT system is successfully launched and running as intended, NHS 24 will continue to face significant uncertainty with regard to financial planning and sustainability."
It added: "The board has taken a fundamental look at what needs to be addressed in order to fully implement the new system.
Read more: Crisis-hit Scots NHS board has "no plan" to deal with £11.6m budget deficit, says auditor
"Whilst significant challenges still remain, the board is now taking reasonable steps to mitigate the risk of further delay.
"Delivery of financial targets will be very challenging and will largely depend on achieving efficiency savings."
Scottish Labour health spokesperson Anas Sarwar said: “Something has clearly gone badly wrong with the NHS 24 IT system - it is years late and millions over budget.
“At a time when our NHS staff tell us they are overworked and under pressure it will leave a sour taste in the mouth that this project is now tens of millions of pounds over budget.
“Shona Robison’s in-tray is overflowing with problems with our health service – she is mismanaging our NHS.”
Read more: Crisis-hit Scots NHS board has "no plan" to deal with £11.6m budget deficit, says auditor
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton added: "The massive cost overruns from another SNP IT fiasco will have long term implications for funding.”
NHS 24 chief executive Angiolina Foster said she "acknowledged" the findings.
She said the new telephone system went live last week with six planned care services believed to include Breathing Space, NHS Living Life, the musculoskeletal helpline, death certification, blood transfusion and Fit For Work.
It will then be introduced in one health board area to ensure it is working effectively before the national roll-out.
"We look forward to fully implementing the new system in 2017, which will not only enable NHS 24 to continue to deliver improved patient-centred services during the out of hours period, but will allow for the development of new ways of offering health and care to people across Scotland well into the future.
"It provides a key asset to NHS Scotland offering the capability on which new and improved services will be developed," said Ms Foster.
At Holyrood, Labour MSP Jenny Marra raised a point of order, accusing the Scottish Government of attempting to “bury bad news” by ordering the report’s release 15 minutes after First Minister’s Questions ended, meaning the opposition would be unable to question ministers about the contents for almost three weeks.
She said: “I do not see it as any coincidence that the Scottish Government chose to publish these reports safely after the last opportunity before recess for parliament to ask questions of the government."
Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh said that he could not compel ministers over timings of report publications but added: “It is clearly a matter over which the member and other members will have a genuine interest and would wish to question the Government. I make no assumptions whatsoever about the timing of the publication, I would simply ask the cabinet secretary and the Government to reflect on timings of future publications.”
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: "NHS 24 has fully acknowledged there were weaknesses in the past and has worked hard to strengthen the programme’s governance arrangements. I am pleased that this positive progress is noted by the Auditor General, who acknowledges that reasonable steps are being taken to mitigate the risk of further delay."
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