Avoiding Project Failure and Achieving Project Success in NHS IT System Projects in the United Kingdom

Although project success varies from business to business depending on different internally agreed success criteria, most organisations measure project success by analysing if the project delivered the planned project objectives within the set budget, schedule (project timelines), and quality. However, for some projects especially, development projects success goes beyond just meeting time frames and budget goals. In such projects and programmes, success refers to delivering the benefits coupled with the required expectations by stakeholders, beneficiaries, and funding bodies. This paper re-examines why the National Programme for IT (NPfIT), the largest public-sector IT programme that was ever undertaken in the UK, failed and how any future NHS National IT System implementations can be completed successfully.