Hitachi Digital Services Extends Contract With NHS England

NHS England has extended its contract with Hitachi Digital Services for software support and development of the National Breast Screening System (NBSS). 

The agreement, originally established in 2015 and set to expire at the end of May, has been extended by two years, increasing its value by £36 million.

NBSS serves as the core IT platform for managing routine breast screening operations across over 70 offices in England, Wales, and the Isle of Man. 

It handles critical functions such as appointment bookings and onward referrals. However, the system is nearly 20 years old and built on Microsoft’s Visual Basic 6 programming language, which was released in 1998 and lost official support in 2008. 

Despite this, compatibility with dependent applications has been maintained.

The contract notice highlights the system’s complexity due to extensive development over the years, making the rollout of new releases highly time-consuming. 

Currently, there are “no reasonable alternatives” to NBSS, and the extension aims to ensure service continuity while NHS England develops and implements a long-term strategy for the system.

In parallel, NHS England has launched a pilot project using the NHS App to invite women to breast screening appointments. 

This initiative is part of a broader effort to modernise digital services and improve accessibility. 

The pilot, involving three breast screening offices, has shown promising results, with participants receiving appointment details through the app, text messages, or postal letters as a fallback.