Ellee Seymour

A multi-billion-pound revamp of the NHS computer system is “descending into chaos”, warned MP Richard Bacon.

It is the biggest computer project in the world and has been blighted by technical problems and spiralling costs.

The on-the-ball South Norfolk MP, who was chosen by MPs as Backbencher of the Year for his work in exposing the foreign prisons scandal, has urged the Government to pull the plug on the scheme before it ended up “sleepwalking towards disaster”.

He is a member of the Commons Public Accounts Committee and has called for the controversial programme to be decentralised and for control to be given back to hospitals locally.

Under the government’s plans, GPs, clinics and hospitals across the country would be linked together by computer - allowing appointments to be arranged instantly and giving patients more choice on where to receive treatment.

Richard believes hospital chief executives across the country should instead be given personal responsibility - and funding - for purchasing computer systems locally.

As things stand, the upgrade of NHS computers, the largest IT project in the world, has been dogged by controversy and criticised for over-centralisation. Crucially, it does not have the confidence of clinical staff.

And the programme’s largest software supplier, iSoft, is under investigation by the Financial Services Authority for possible accounting irregularities.

Richard warned:

“The National Programme for IT in the NHS is currently sleepwalking towards disaster. It is far behind schedule. Projected costs have spiralled. Key software systems have little chance of ever working properly. Clinical staff are losing confidence in it. Many local trusts are considering opting out of the programme altogether.

“These problems are a consequence of over-centralisation, over-ambition and an obsession with quick political fixes.

“This programme is costing taxpayers a king’s ransom but it is descending into chaos. Our paper proposes a solution which would reduce the scale, cost and risk of the National Programme and accelerate the delivery of benefits to all NHS staff”.

It was only a short while ago that the Government faced chaos after a new computer system was blamed for delayed payments to farmers, causing hardship and financial ruin.

I don’t understand why this Government can’t install reliable, efficient computer systems that work. Don’t we have the technology? In theory, it sounds helpful to have a national shared NHS database, but can you imagine the chaos it would cause if it crashed?

If the progamme is scrapped, I wonder how much public money has been wasted. How many extra nurses salaries would it have paid for?

Today is International Blog Day and Radio 5 Live is plugging it like mad. They want bloggers to recommend sites.

The aim is also to travel out of your normal comfort zone and explore some new sites. This is a great idea as I do think some blogs are a little clique.

This site tells you how to mark the day, and with 52.6 million blogs to check out, you should have lots of fun today. I shall be joining and and will report back later.

Here are my five recommendations from those I already know, though I enjoy all those mentioned on my blogroll:

I recommend Geoff Jones, who launched me into blogsphere, http://www.geoffjones.com/

Iain Dale, who gives a humorous and punchy review of political news straight from the hip, http://www.iaindale.blogspot.com/

PC Bloggs, a policewoman who gives a great grassroots account of life on the beat, http://pcbloggs.blogspot.com/

Neville Hobson, who is always one step ahead with social media, http://www.nevillehobson.com/

and Margot Wallstrom, if only more politicians could blog like her, though I would like to see a few more posts, http://weblog.jrc.ec.europa.eu/page/wallstrom/

Thanks to my long suffering husband Stephen who heard this on the radio and told me about it, even though last night he was so cross with his late dinner that he threatened to go to Tesco and get something to eat unless I stopped blogging. It’s tough being married to a blogger!

Churchill could never have imagined that a partly-smoked cigar he discarded in an ash tray at Chequers Court more than 50 years ago would end up being offered for sale in a fine art auction. And the 12cm weed is expected to sell for up to £120.

I have no idea who has offered it for sale, or how it came to be in his/her possession. Why wasn’t it thrown out in the bin? Why was such a large amount discarded by the statesman? Was Churchill interrupted from his smoke by important business? Did he intend to re-light it later, only to discover it had been swiped by someone with an eye to profiteering? Do you regard it as an object d’art?

It comes with a typed note saying it was taken out of an ashtray at Chequers Court on February 21 1953; the auctioneers say they don’t have any corroborative evidence, but there’s seemingly no reason to doubt it.

I think I’ll wait for one of Maggie’s handbags to come under the auctioneer’s hammer!

I’m heading off to London today for a screen test with a TV company, the first time I have ever done anything like this. It is for an exciting new programme which is due to be screened on Channel 4.

All will be revealed in due course, whichever way it goes, but I can tell you it is not Countdown or Deal or No Deal - and I will need my passport if selected.

It takes considerable courage to tell the truth, especially if you fear the future success of your political party could be at stake. Concealing the truth and taking the easy way out is never the answer.

But who really cared about what would happen to Charles Kennedy the man, as his drinking continued to spiral out of control? Why didn’t his colleagues intervene and force him to consider the deterioration of his health instead of colluding and covering it up?

Someone who has faced those demons and knows exactly what he went through is Veronica Callanan, one of my clients who runs a private drink and drugs clinic in Cambridge called The Development Centre. She is a recovered alcoholic, yet to meet her you would never imagine that she had hit rock bottom as a binge drinker. She is a stunning success story of how you can win the battle with booze, she knows it could happen to any of us.

Veronica has condemned Kennedy’s friends for not rallying round to confront him about his drinking. This is her response to the sorry saga:

“Alcoholism isn’t, and has never has been, a solitary ‘illness’, it is a condition that can worsen or be improved by the response of the people around them, particularly their family, most certainly their closest peers. Their collusion with alcoholism can actually worsen the condition