On shared services in the NHS

Public Accounts Committee 12th December 2007 Uncorrected Evidence 90: "Q10 Chairman: Peter Coates, how can you expect NHS bodies of the type we were looking at yesterday to sign up to shared services when you yourself will not make that commitment?

Mr Coates: We are making that commitment. SBS currently have a proposal with the Department of Health to move across to shared services and we expect to sign a contract in the near future.

Q11 Chairman: It rather begs the question - and by the way the reference to this is paragraph 2.17 - why have you not done so up to now?

Mr Coates: Because the Department of Health decided they wanted to design bespoke system based on Oracle ---

Q12 Chairman: Please speak a little louder, I am having difficulty hearing what you are saying.

Mr Coates: The Department of Health decided that they wanted a new bespoke system to move across to Shared Business Services to maintain once they had built the system, and that took some time. There was transparent discussion between SBS and the Department and that has now come to an end and we are now discussing final terms, et cetera.

Q13 Chairman: So the industrial-capacity, bespoke Oracle system that we were shown yesterday, and we were given various assurances about, was not good enough for your purposes; is that right?

Mr Coates: For the Department's purposes they want

ed some refinements in it that Xansa, who support the Oracle software at SBS, could not offer.

Q14 Chairman: What could they not offer? After all, they are dealing already with a very complex system, I do not know how many trusts they are dealing with so why could they not deal with your organisation?

Mr Coates: It was to do with the report writing software. I am not familiar with the detail, I am afraid.

Q15 Chairman: Is there anybody in this room who could tell me?

Mr Coates: I can offer you a note on it by all means.

Q16 Chairman: Do you not think it might have been useful for you to have briefed yourself before you came to this Committee so you could have told us? It is a fairly obvious question. Have you got an official behind you, perhaps they can help us? We do not mind who answers these questions.

Mr Coates: I have got nobody from the Department here with me.

Q17 Chairman: Okay, do a note for us then.

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