Replacement of NHS Oracle finance system postponed again

NHS England has postponed the replacement of its Oracle finance system again after more than three years of delays.

The Integrated Single Financial Environment (ISFE) processes around £170bn in health spending every year for NHSE, according to an Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) ‘Annual Report on Major Projects 2023-24’.

Plans have been in place to upgrade the Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 system since 2018, when the quango under the Department of Health and Social Care said a new replacement system would go live in April 2021.

An NHS England spokesperson told The Register that a revised go-live date of April 2024 had been missed.

“A decision was taken to extend the planning and testing for this highly complex critical national infrastructure and a revised launch date in 2025 for the new system will be communicated shortly.

“The current system and service continue to operate as normal and we remain committed to the successful delivery of this next-generation national finance system, ensuring that services, the system, and users are operationally ready for its arrival,” the spokesperson said.

In its 2023-24 annual report, the IPA, a UK government projects watchdog, said NHSE’s project to upgrade ISFE had been rated red, meaning “successful delivery of the project appears to be unachievable”.

The report added that “the project may need re-scoping and/or its overall viability reassessed”.

It also said the new finance system would support NHSE group of organisations, consisting of 42 integrated care boards (ICBs), four Commissioning Support Units (CSUs), NHSE and a provider organisation with annual funding of £170bn.

Data from the 2020-21 IPA report said NHS England had planned to go live with the system in April 2024.

In December 2022, NHSE awarded the £108 million ($134 million) ISFE contract – without competition – to the incumbent supplier, NHS Shared Business Services, a joint venture between the NHS and French outsourcer Sopra Steria.

Digital Health News reported in April 2023 that NHS Shared Business Services had selected Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to help build an ISFE for NHSE, which would enable NHSE and 42 integrated care boards in the UK to standardise all financial processes on a single cloud-based platform to reduce costs and improve controls.