NHS England will not have its own fully functioning IT system for up to six months after it takes on its full responsibilities next week, HSJ has learned.

The body, formerly known as the NHS Commissioning Board, will be in charge of more than £90bn of NHS funding from Monday.

Internal emails leaked to HSJ, sent in the past two months, reveal that private contractor firm Atos has been asked to set up an integrated computer system for all of NHS England.

Its initial work is focused on ensuring the organisation’s staff have access to essential services such as internet access, email and landline telephones.

NHS England will employ more than 4,000 staff in offices in every part of the country.

However, the emails show NHS England “will not have a fully functional file server in place from 1 April”.

The body intends to have “a range of file storage, archiving and document management services” including an intranet and shared drives as part of a system called Open Service.

Open Service will also provide access to Microsoft programmes such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and enable video conferencing.

NHS England does not currently expect the system to be fully up and running in all sites until October.

Open Service is already available to all Department of Health arm’s length bodies. It will be managed for NHS England for five years, under a £70m DH contract.

One of the emails seen by HSJ says that due to “the magnitude of the task and the dependency on factors out with the corporate ICT function, there is now an urgent need to provide guidance for contingency planning in anticipation of 1 April 2013”.

As IT systems used by primary care trusts and strategic health authorities may be “terminated” when those organisations are abolished, the board’s ICT team has been working to establish contingency plans.

“It must be stressed that there is a realisation and recognition that, given the remaining time and factors beyond our control, Open Service will not be available everywhere and for everyone by 1 April,” one of the emails says.

Contingency plans under development fall into four categories:

  • internet access for all NHS England sites. If internet access cannot be provided in time, an agreement will need to be reached to enable access to NHS England services “for a limited time from an alternative and geographically appropriate location”;
  • access to email;
  • access to a “corporate file store/repository” and intranet service over the internet. The board’s IT team are “currently considering solutions and options”;
  • a “virtual private network connection” to NHS England services is also “being explored”.

A spokeswoman for NHS England said: “Corporate ICT services are now available and are in widespread use by staff.

“Atos are currently working with corporate ICT staff to connect all NHS England users to the service, however, this is a significant logistical challenge and will require a systematic deployment approach throughout the various NHS England sites.

“We have therefore asked NHS England staff who will be based in former PCTs and SHA premises to continue using existing service provision for up to six months, by which time corporate ICT services will be delivered to all of the regional and area teams of NHS England.”

The spokeswoman said there were “no issues in terms of available functionality”, and that existing shared drives will stay in place. A SharePoint service allowing all NHS England users to store and share documents will be available in April, she added.

The emails seen by HSJ also suggest that NHS funded smartphones will only be supplied where there is a clear “business need”.

“Provision of a mobile/smartphone needs to be based on a function and user business need and not personal preference,” one email says.

“If a mobile telephone is justified, a choice of ‘standard’ or ‘smart’ hand set will be considered, again depended on function/role.”

The email says Blackberry devices to not support the NHSmail email system. “As such, Blackberries will not be supported by the NHS CB,” it says.

Where it is necessary for a current Blackberry user to access NHSmail, “these individuals need to be identified and priority will be given to assign a new smartphone handset”.

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