The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

NHS IT fiasco claims scalp at iSoft

iSoft CEO resigns after calamitous start to the year

Ensure Ease of Recovery with Asigra’s Agentless Software

iSoft's CEO has stepped down after the firm was caught up in the NHS IT fiasco.

In a statement to the City yesterday, Tim Whiston said: "I have become increasingly concerned that my continued role with the Company may represent a source of negative speculation and comment, being an unhelpful distraction to those within it."

As a major supplier of software to the multi-billion NHS IT programme, iSoft has been pincered by painfully tight contractual terms and poor execution of the programme by the NHS. The contract means iSoft doesn't get a fig till it delivers the goods.

This should not have been news to anyone with a close eye on the firm. Nevertheless, iSoft shares have dived nearly 90 per cent from around 400p since January, when Whiston announced that revenues and profits from the programme would be £55m and £45m lower respectively than expected this year.

Its share price has rallied a little to around 60p since Whiston said he would go. A National Audit Office report into the NHS IT programme, due any day now, might also make the future a little clearer for financial forecasters.

iSoft chairman John Weston will look after the the CEO's job till a replacement is found.®

Agentless Backup is Not a Myth

More from The Register

SCO vs. IBM battle resumes over ownership of Unix
Zombie lawsuit back and wants to suck the brains out of Linux
 breaking news
NSA whistleblower to tech firms, Obama: 'Grow a pair!'
Ed Snowden: Email tracking grabs 'IPs, raw data, content, headers, attachments, everything'
 breaking news
Ecuador: All right, Julian, you CAN stay on our sofa - it's your human right
Minister and Wikileaker share cosy chat in tiny London flat
Google flings another £1m at online child sex abuse vid CRACKDOWN
See, see, we're trying, ad giant tells Daily Mail UK.gov
 breaking news
NSA PRISM-gate: Relax, GCHQ spooks 'keep us safe', says Cameron
Whatever they are up to, it's all above board, we're told
 breaking news
BBC lied to Parliament about doomed £100m IT monster, thunder MPs
Axed DMI ballooned and burst while watchdogs sang Kumbaya
PRISM snitch claims NSA hacked Chinese targets since 2009
Snowden suddenly looks safer in Hong Kong after revelations
 breaking news
US chief spook: Look, we only want to spy on 6.66 BEELLLION of you
Americans assured they are not in the NSA's sights