NHS: Don't blame IT for jabs blunder

The NHS has rejected claims that its IT systems have left parents without the correct information on their children's immunisations, pointing the finger of blame at "manual" systems instead.

The health service said incorrectly completed manual processes - and not IT systems - may have meant some parents did not get correct information on their children's immunisations. Reports at the weekend had blamed the new IT systems for the lapses.

The agency in charge of health service IT, NHS Connecting for Health (CfH), said that in the spring of last year the company providing child health monitoring systems to 10 of London's 30 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) decided to withdraw its ageing system from the market.

BT, as the IT service provider for London, stepped in to install replacement systems known as the Child Health Interim Application (Chia).

CfH said in a statement: "From the outset it was recognised that this system alone would not provide all the necessary reports about children's immunisation status."

The interim system was complemented by additional "manual" processes, developed by the PCTs to produce the information needed.

But CfH admitted: "It is possible that in some locations over the past 10 months the manual processes have not been correctly completed. And it could mean that some parents have not been correctly advised of their children's immunisation needs. That is most regrettable, however it is not a fault of the computer system; it was a process error."

The NHS said GPs will typically note the immunisation status of children registered with their practice.

The agency said in a statement: "We are confident that the combination of the data available from GPs' records and developments in the Chia system will mean that in the next two months all children in the affected areas will be offered vaccinations at the right time."