NOS programme cut back and renamed

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eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

The National Oracle Solution programme has been scaled down and renamed after work on the project was suspended in September last year.

The Ministry of Health says NOS has been superseded by the Health Finance, Procurement and Information Management System. A new business case for the FPIM was endorsed by all 20 DHBs and approved by Cabinet in June 2019.

While NOS was intended to replace all 20 DHB’s finance and procurement systems, FPIM will be delivered to 11 DHBs, with four already live.

Based on Oracle business applications, the original NOS business case was approved in 2012 and envisaged significant savings from the centralisation of systems, with deployment expected in 2014.

However, work on the programme was suspended last year following the release of an independent review of NOS by Deloitte detailing the challenges facing the project that had led to major delays and cost overruns.

Health Minister David Clark said at the time that more than $100 million had been spent on the solution since 2012, “with little to show for it”.

The Ministry says the FPIM has two primary objectives. The first is to address risks from end-of-life systems experienced by at least 10 DHBs.

“Secondly, to realise the procurement benefits of Pharmac-negotiated national contracts for medical devices, as well as savings through other national procurement initiatives,” a Ministry statement says.

“It will also provide data to support DHBs to realise further procurement benefits outside of nationally negotiated contracts.”

NOS was implemented in four DHBs – Bay of Plenty, Canterbury, Waikato and West Coast – in July 2018.

The FPIM programme will develop the IT infrastructure to support these four DHBs and seven others that will also move to the FPIM system: Auckland, Counties Manukau, Northland, Waitematā, Taranaki, Southern and South Canterbury.

“In parallel, a national catalogue of products and services, common chart of accounts, national data standards and data repository are being developed to support procurement benefits,” the Ministry says.

“These elements of FPIM will be used by all 20 DHBs, regardless of the financial management and procurement system they use.”

The Ministry has established an FPIM Governance Board to provide governance oversight of the programme and service. The new board has representatives from the Ministry, DHBs, Pharmac and independents with relevant governance experience. 

If you would like to provide feedback on this news story please contact the editor Rebecca McBeth.

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