IT professionals have called for clarity after the government announced an “acceleration” in the dismantling of the national IT scheme.

A Cabinet Office review found that the National Programme for IT “could not deliver on its original aims”, specifically in delivering the electronic care record systems that make up the bulk of the programme’s £12bn cost.

A statement from the Department of Health said the announcement signalled a “move on” from the “top down approach” of NPfIT towards “local decision making”.

Vice chair for health at BCS The Chartered Institute for IT Mike Sinclair said the government had “shown leadership by taking an explicit step further forward”.

However, he said, there needed to be clarity over the NHS’s “contractual commitments” with CSC and BT, the companies involved in the scheme.

He said: “We don’t know what the impact on NHS organisations will be in relation to those commitments. What have they got to spend according to their own needs and what is already committed contractually?”

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