Tola Sargeant, research director at analyst house TechMarketView, that electronic patient records were the "most likely part of the programme to face the axe", because of their late running and problematic early rollouts. Procurement by trusts in the south, which is to begin next year, could also face cancellation, she said.

The programme faces trouble on other fronts. Fujitsu, which lost its contract with the government to supply part of the NPfIT, is in talks over its claim for £700 million compensation. Of its remaining suppliers, CSC and BT, the latter has been able to , leading analysts to say it had the NHS "over a barrel".

The amount that could be saved by scrapping significant parts of the NPfIT is not clear. The taxpayer has so far paid only a fraction of the estimated £12.7 billion project costs, because suppliers are tied up in strict contracts that only allow payment on delivery. With electronic patient records and administration systems slated to be at least four years late, the suppliers have spent billions of pounds on work but earned only a small portion of what they had expected.

In the coming weeks the Department of Health is assessing whether the latest patient system deployments by the suppliers meets its standards. If BT or CSC are judged to have failed, the government has made it clear the programme will be .

If either supplier loses its contract or sees its scope change, the government will likely face further challenging legal battles.