eHealth Insider has revealed that North Bristol NHS Trust has overspent by more £1m implementing the Cerner Millennium system.
Figures in a finance report to the trust’s board show that more than £4.5m has already been spent on the new electronic patient record system.
A source told eHealth Insider that the original budget for Cerner was £3.9m while the forecast spend on the project is expected to reach £5.1m.
The additional costs were incurred when the system had to be relaunched when problems were encountered in the outpatients department. Chief executive Ruth Brunt said implementation went smoothly in the emergency department; two minor injury units and more than 60 ward areas.
She added that the extra money to pay for the relaunch came from the trust’s capital budget contingencies and not from patient care budgets.
North Bristol NHS Trust has commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct an independent review of the issues.