Financial Times

 

'Millennium bomb could kill patients'

By George Parker, Political Correspondent

 

Hospital patients could die because of slippage in the government's drive to tackle the millennium computer bomb, MPs on the Commons public accounts committee will warn today.

 

 

A report by the committee contrasts with assurances from John Prescott, deputy prime minister, who yesterday insisted the government had the problem under control.

 

 

With only 500 days to the millennium, the committee found signs of slippage in the government's programme to stop computers crashing on January 1 2000.

 

 

The MPs found that the total bill to the public sector of amending computer software was rising and could reach £3bn.

 

 

"The millennium threat poses a serious risk of disruption to government business and there are worrying signs that not all of the public sector will be ready in time," said David Davis, the committee's Conservative chairman.

 

 

The most scathing criticism is levelled at health chiefs, who were accused of failing to address the problem with sufficient urgency.

 

 

The MPs fear that sophisticated medical equipment could fail because of the dependence on computers that cannot recognise the "00" date change: "In the health service, this could mean that, in extreme circumstances, patients' lives could be at risk."

 

 

The committee's report, Managing the Millennium Threat, is particularly critical of the Medical Devices Agency for failing to ensure its equipment was compliant with the millennium.

 

 

"We are appalled the agency did not realise the potential impact of failures until late 1997," the report says. "In our view, this delay, and the misleading advice they gave to the NHS in 1996, can only have increased the risks to patients and the costs of remedial action."

 

 

These observations are in line with the results of a survey of more than 1,000 health institutions published in May by Prove It 2000, a computer software house.

 

 

It found that more than a third of NHS trusts, hospitals and GPs' surgeries had spent nothing on ensuring their computer systems would be able to cope with the millennium bomb.

 

 

The public accounts committee concludes that the Treasury must be prepared to listen sympathetically to any requests from health chiefs for increased funding for millennium bomb work.

 

 

Mr Prescott yesterday signed the so-called "Pledge 2000" committing the government to work with the private sector to "beat the bug" by sharing information on the subject.