The NHS and IT
I work in IT for the NHS. I recently had the misfortune to discover that each Dell desktop purchased costs the NHS around £3000, when they should be about £300 each.

Why the massive increase in cost? There is a service contract bundled with each one, meaning if anything at all goes wrong with them, Dell will hotfoot over in no more than ten working days and fix said problem.

Which would be great, were it not for the fact that every NHS trust will have a good-sized desktop support team who will fix anything that goes wrong with these PCs. In theory, if there is a hardware problem, the Desktop should be returned to Dell and they will replace the faulty bit. In reality, the trust will buy replacement parts and fix them themselves.

What a waste.
(ScousersPet, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 9:34, 15 replies)

This
makes me sad.
(dchurch bah, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 9:51, closed)

They're rubbish, under-specced PCs, too.
I don't think I ever had one that didn't sound like a Harrier taking off, whenever I asked it to do anything remotely taxing.
My PCTs move to HP hasn't been much of an improvement.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 10:09, closed)

My sister's used to sound like there was a fucking helicopter under the case
replacement fans aren't cheap either
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 10:26, closed)

I'm a consultant for a couple of county councils
They can buy Dell desktops internally (from their own IT people) at 1500 quid. List on the same machine is £350.

They buy directly from me, get a better machine (usually about 500 quid), 3 year NBD on site warranty from the manufacturer, and 4 hour response times on support.

Their own internal IT people loathe me because I'm taking money away from them. It doesn't bother me in the slightest as my clients are saving money, getting a better spec machine over all, and I'm making a profit. Win.
( shadyron, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 10:15, closed)

it's still retarded.
Why does a MASSIVE organisation like the NHS not get *below* list price? The quantity they must consume would qualify for a healthy discount?

I know the answer, it's the trust system which are run by twunty people from a backward institution who know fuck all about nothing.

I spoke to a doctor last week who using a small charity has developed a software app for GUM clinics in London. It's really really impressive and only cost £60k. It's better than anything I've ever seen the NHS use and cost a fraction of what CRAPITA or some other such company would charge. It's fast, works on all devices with a browser and is genuinely useful. More people like that please.
(skgorsky, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 10:21, closed)

Yup.
We had a reporting system that, having been developed in-house, could be customised to work exactly to our needs. Rather than invest in the single member of staff who developed it, the PCT threw money at some SHA sourced shite (that didn't do what we wanted, and never would), before the company behind that bailed out, after which we threw more money at an externally provided data warehouse (which we don't use), before moving on to a different, SHA sourced, system. Our in-house system was supposed to have been switched off, two years ago, but has instead been forced to limp on, without the support of the person who wrote it.
Hopeless.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 10:52, closed)

because the quantity they consume
equals a fucking huge quantity of support issues numbnuts. PC's aren't tins of dog food.
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 13:30, closed)

Are you trolling? I think your trolling.

If not I'll explain. Base unit cost + support cost = total.

Base unit cost should below what a normal consumer can get it for due to quantity. Support is on top.
(skgorsky, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 13:53, closed)

You personally provide 4 hour response times to a couple of councils?
for all their PC's?? - pull the other fucking one.
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 13:27, closed)

Yes, really.
Would you perhaps like to come up and visit? Gaz me and I'll provide a mobile number and so on.

Oh, and not all. I didn't say I supported all of them: I don't. I only support the ones sourced through me.

If you want, I can provide you with company accounts and the like. They're really thoroughly boring, but will perhaps show that I'm not bullshitting.
( shadyron, Tue 28 Feb 2012, 8:43, closed)

As mentioned in some of the replies above, they're woeful machines.
And the HPs that we've moved onto are indeed, not much better.

I found out recently that every machine we buy comes with Windows 7 & Office 2010 pre-installed.

We then wipe it, and install Windows XP & Office 2003.
(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 12:13, closed)

Genius!
Our trust has abandoned (sorry, paused) its rollout of Win7 & 2010, leaving us in a silly, half and half state.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 16:04, closed)

They've done a similar thing here with email systems
Consequently, half the trust is on one system, the other half is on the new one.

And guess what? The directories haven't been shared, so if you're trying to email someone on the other system you can't find their email address O_o
(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 16:21, closed)

Hmmm
Machines in our Trust cost about 500 quid with a three years parts/rtb warranty. Sounds like your business manager is a useless cunt.
( Brandy_Bumwinkle, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 14:29, closed)

You're all being ripped off
We are Dell partners and will sell you a good spec optiplex with monitor for £700, and that includes a 3yd next business day onsite warranty from Dell themselves. Seriously - if any of you are in procurement PM me and I'll add some value to the whole fucking mess. £3k my arse - that's why I'm being bled dry by the tax man.
(strongp, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 17:39, closed)