[ILUG] Beaumont CEO wants to reverse use of Linux

[Sean Mac Suibhne]

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0609/2082363642HM8BEAUMONT.html

                                        Irish Times 
                                       9 June 2005
                Dispute over plan for new IT at hospital
               Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent 

An internal row has erupted at Dublin's Beaumont Hospital over plans to 
introduce a new computer system which the IT manager at the hospital 
estimates could cost €2 million and which he believes is unnecessary.

 Internal hospital correspondence, seen by The Irish Times, indicates IT 
project manager Tony Kenny has "serious concerns" at the plan. He claims 
"nothing resembling a clear business case to justify" the plan has been 
produced.

The hospital moved to an "open-source" Linux IT system approximately four 
years ago. The system was free of charge. Now the plan is to move to a 
Microsoft system which Mr Kenny claims, in the correspondence, could cost €2 
million.

In a letter to the hospital's chief executive, Liam Duffy, on June 1st, he 
said his deepest concern was that no or inadequate funding had been provided 
for the proposal. If it went ahead, no funds would then be available for 
"core requirements" such as new desktops or improvements in the current 
infrastructure.

"One of the most pressing issues is the absence of any electronic support for 
medication management. This represents an enormous risk management for us," 
he wrote.

Mr Duffy, in a letter to Mr Kenny setting out the need for the change on May 
31st last, said the decision had been taken following representations from 
staff at all levels in the hospital which indicated the current software was 
not meeting requirements, and was "giving rise to widespread discontent".

The CEO said he was also concerned that Beaumont was the only organisation in 
the healthcare environment that had adopted the open-source strategy. The 
budgetary implications of the move would be examined by the hospital's IT 
strategy group, he added.

In relation to Beaumont being the only hospital with the open-source system, 
Mr Kenny responded: "It would be unusual to find a criteria of being the same 
as everyone else a desirable characteristic for those aspiring to achieve 
strategic excellence."

Local Sinn Féin councillor Larry O'Toole said he was worried that management 
was apparently taking such a decision when it was advised of other IT 
priorities to improve patient care.

Last night, a spokesman for Beaumont Hospital said it was surprised and 
disappointed that "internal and commercially sensitive" documents had been 
made public. He said word-processing, e-mail and related software were core 
to the hospital, and any problems could seriously disrupt communications 
between departments and with other hospitals.

He added the suggestion it would cost €2 million to replace the system was 
"not even a guesstimate" and took no account of the substantial discounts 
likely to be available to Beaumont.



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