UPMC team displaces Royal Berks staff

Tags: A Cerner Foundation Trust iS Newcastle NPfIT UPMC US

09 Jul 2009

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust has handed redundancy notices to its entire electronic patient record team as it prepares to implement a Cerner system with University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre.

The 26 staff on the team have been told that their present roles no longer exist and that they will have to compete for 19 one year, fixed term contracts, three of which are reserved for nurses.

Meanwhile, E-Health Insider understands that 45 people will be brought in from UPMC, with which the trust signed a contract in June.

A contact with knowledge of the situation said: “The whole team were called into a meeting and handed a printed letter and told that their current roles no longer exist and their jobs are now at risk.

“Everybody is angry and just can’t believe what is happening. When we heard the news about the UPMC partnership, we thought the hospital would be employing more people – not making people redundant.”

In a statement, the trust said: “The project will require us to work in very different ways – throughout the implementation period and beyond – if we are to deliver the high level of patient benefits that we have identified.

“The current IT teams are being consulted regarding an interim structure to help deliver the first stages of the EPR.

"Our priority is to use the existing skills within the team to fill these new roles, or to find alternative roles within the trust for the individuals involved. The structure will continue to evolve as the project moves ahead.”

Royal Berkshire broke away from the National Programme for IT in the NHS to do the deal with UPMC, which is already delivering a Cerner system to Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

It said it could not wait for the national programme, which has been without a local service provider for the South cluster since Fujitsu exited in May 2008.

In its statement, the trust said clinical and non-clinical staff from the trust would work alongside the UPMC team “who will bring with them vast experience of implementing such systems elsewhere.”

It claimed this would be an “excellent opportunity for our staff to become informatics specialists in this field” and that it would “continue to work with the individuals to apply for roles in the new structure or elsewhere within the trust.”

Lyn Whitfield

Newcastle chooses Pittsburgh for EHR (29 Apr 2008) (15)

Readers Comments

Newcastle

09 Jul 09 10:02

The 'big bang' at Newcastle was supposed to happen June/July 2009.As there has been no announcements can we assume that this target is not going to be met.

Work permits?

09 Jul 09 11:37

I can't help wondering whether the UPMC team are entitled to work in the UK (or EU)? Is it confirmed that the skills don't currently exist within the EU to implement this system in Berkshire?

Inter-Company Transfer

09 Jul 09 13:59

This is interesting. We've all seen companies like Lloyds TSB and BT shedding thousands of IT contract staff and passing the work to companies like Tech Mahindra, who can bring in non-EU workers to the UK through ICTs - Inter Company Transfer visas. I haven't heard of many companies doing this for permanent staff so far, and I'm very surprised to see the NHS being on the bleeding edge of this.

These ICTs bypass the points system that was set up recently to control inwards migration (and brought the UK more into line with Australia, Canada and the US), and effectively let a company print its own visas.

There has been quite a lot of discussion about this recently on web sites such as the PCG - Professional Contractors Group and Contractor Alliance. Not all of the forum postings are palatable to an NHS audience, so if you want to read those I suggest you do so from home to avoid potential issues with veiwing innapropriate material, as there is some jibing of non-EU workers. (Which I don't buy into).

The PCG has been making representations to a body called MAC - Migration Advisory Committee about the issue and asking for ICTs to be reviewed. The unions that represent staff in Lloyds TSB are also protesting.

Perhaps UNISON might take an interest as well now that permanent NHS staff are in the firing line.

The point is, under the ICT system any group of UK based workers (whether British, EU, here through a work visa or on Indefinate Leave to Remain) is vulnerable to their employer replacing them with a deal through an outsourcer who can ship-in lower cost staff with lower costs of living from outside the EU at a drop of a hat.

It doesn't feel like a level playing field.

All over by Christmas?

09 Jul 09 14:51

>>The project will require us to work in very different ways – throughout the implementation period and beyond<<

Presumably 'beyond' does not extend much past go-live considering these are one year fixed term contracts

And of course there's no chance whatsoever that implementation dates could slip ;-)

It's fascinating how even when trusts eschew CfH, they often replicate NPfIT's early macho approach and denial of the challenges of secondary care system implementations.

"Ambitious", "high level", "cutting edge" pepper the press releases of forthcoming implementations. Plaudits are duly accepted and careers move onwards and upwards before the delays mount and projects are inexorably descoped.

What would be truly revolutionary is a secondary care project which had the adjective 'realistic' attached. Underpromise and overdeliver!

This looks bonkers

brian.hogan@live.co.uk

09 Jul 09 15:51

I'm sure that the management of Royal Berkshire know what they are doing but this does look more than a bit bonkers. Cerner, the product developer has made staff redundant in the UK. BT which also has Cerner expertise has also announced redundancies. And now the Royal Berkshire has fired a warning shot to its own people. In parallel CFH has announced that Trusts in the South could choose a supplier from the ASCC catalogue and the costs would be met by CFH. Royal Berks must have money to burn. They are meeting all the costs themselves and importing a small army of NHS experts from Pennsylvania. How encouraging for UK people who have invested their skill in healthcare IT. Not only has Royal Berks rejected any home-grown IT products (and there are several) but they have now rejected their own staff in favour of imported "experts" who will all have to charge for housing, healthcare, education for their children and all manner of ex-pat expenses. If this project proves no more successful than any other, I wonder whether anyone at Royal Berks will be held accountable for spending more than they needed and wrecking the careers of loyal staff?

[Post edited by EHI]

Exciting, but is this a bit of history repeating

09 Jul 09 19:00

Understandable decision, considering CFC progress to date. But there might also be a history lesson "in untried American EPR implementations" to be learned from theb London SQ10 experience. Not least; have a deep wallet, loads of patience to explain why the NHS is different to the USA and oh yes, a flexible timescale.

short sighted

09 Jul 09 22:09

If correct, this is a very sad, and short sighted approach.

One of the key success factors is having local knowledge of current processes, which I would assume the current PAS staff have. Sounds like managers have been dazzled by spin from the contractors.

Gut feeling, this will be a train wreck we'll be reading about for many months/years to come.

US NHS experts come out of hiding!

maryhawking@tigers.demon.co.uk

10 Jul 09 08:59

"Royal Berks must have money to burn. They are meeting all the costs themselves and importing a small army of NHS experts from Pennsylvania."

One of the problems faced by the LSPs is total lack of knowledge of the requirements of the NHS and NHS Hospital Trusts - just see the problems encountered in current Cerner implementations under NPfIT!

Interesting thought that an army - even a small one! - of US Cerner NHS experts has been lurking all this time in Pennsylvania!

Oh dear...

10 Jul 09 09:00

It's tempting to come to the conclusion that although it sounds like drastic action, the Trust wouldn't have taken this decision likely and must know what they are doing. On the other hand, you could apply the same rationale to the disaster that is NPfIT. What I suspect is that once again the value of local staff knowledge is being totally disregarded and they don't know what they are letting themselves in for going through this change without that local expertise. Will be interesting to see what happens when they go live, not just operationally when they flick the switch but whether they will continue to support the information and PBR agenda e.g. data submissions to SUS, ability to complete central returns, 18 weeks etc.

The grass is always greener ....

10 Jul 09 09:05

This isn't the first time that the NHS has rejected home-grown solutions in NHS IT - jeopardising UK jobs in the process - and I suspect it won't be the last.

As an example, 10 years on we're still waiting to see benefits to the NHS of its investment in SNOMED rather than Read Clinical Terms.

Welcome to the Real World

12 Jul 09 13:54

None of this surprises me. Its a fact that this sort of thing has been going on in the commercial sector for years and no one was interested.

Why should the NHS be any different?

US Companies and the NHS

john.harris@bhrhospitals.nhs.uk

13 Jul 09 07:24

Drafting in US staff en mass will be counter-productive. I encountered a US company who had taken over an NHS authority's systems and were baffled when the payroll manager asked for 'P60s' at year end.

Local knowledge counts for a lot on the NHS, and it sounds like that will be lost. It also sounds like the management had 'issues' with their local IT staff and wanted 'rid of this turbulent priest'?

My sympathies and best wishes go to the staff at Reading.

Re: US companies and the NHS

13 Jul 09 10:09

Hopefully the Trust will be able to get the P45s out before the Yanks move in!

US knows best

13 Jul 09 13:52

Maybe EHI might like to do a in depth discussion with the powers that be in Berkshire to see why they felt it necessary to sack all their staff and bring in this company above any other that the UK might be able to supply.

Perhaps they think all IT staff in the UK are tainted by NPfIT or that IT in the good Ol' US of A is so faar in advance of the UK that there is no way that a mere Brit can handle it, afterall i am sure the staff in Reading haven't a clue what systems and information is all about, they are only good for following orders and pushing buttons. i would love to know what the local unions are doing about this.

I am working long hours trying to make my multiple systems work waiting for that one system to arrive that i can use but if i spent many a long hour in my own time only to get told that i am not good enough to support any single system i would be straight down to the chief execs office to make sure he/she would know my personal views on what i thought of the decision and that would be just before i paid a call to my MP if he wasnt too busy on his five other jobs that is.

Bitter?

15 Jul 09 12:29

..."None of this surprises me. Its a fact that this sort of thing has been going on in the commercial sector for years and no one was interested.

Why should the NHS be any different?..."

I'll tell you why the NHS should be different. It's a public sector environment. We get paid a lot less for doing a similar role in the commercial sector. That reason alone demands a certain level of protection against this kind of thing.

f I wanted a highly paid job, working with power crazed control freaks who will have you sacked if they don't like 'the cut of my jib..' then I'll work in the commercial sector. I don't and the pressure is still on and the wage still stinks. I should therefore expect a certain amount of job security. What has happened to these guys in Royal Berkshire stinks.

Public vs Private salaries

15 Jul 09 13:46

I'd just like to respond to the reader who commented that public sector wages are lower than commercial sector. Actually, the gap has come down immensely over the last 10 years and I wouldn't presume that the discrepancy continues to exist. The redress largely seems to be due to annual increase in public sector salaries seeming to be automated (if not actually enshrined in contract) and probably other factors such as a significant slice of the increase in Government spending in the NHS going into salaries. Also, NHS pensions are the envy of the commercial sector employee.

From a personal perspective in the commercial sector, I have both battled to recruit healthcare IT people from the NHS when I can't match the salaries, and have myself been offered roles in the NHS at higher salaries than I am on currently. Luckily, it's not all about the salary.

Cerner have experts in NHS requirements?

15 Jul 09 17:19

I don't believe that Cerner have any experts in another part of the world who understand NHS requirements. They had precious few in the UK.