Torex Health has been awarded five year contracts to implement Oracle financial services software at two shared services centres due to open in autumn this year.

The centres at Bristol and South Leeds will provide a range of financial services to various NHS organisations including acute, primary care and ambulance trusts in two UK regions covering the South West of England and West Yorkshire.

Financial services to be provided cover general ledger, purchase ledger and sales ledger. The award of the contracts is a significant step forward for the government’s Shared Services Initiative which is tasked to seek out economies of scale and greater efficiency by centralising suitable NHS functions. Finance has been one of the initiative’s early targets.

Graham Hewitt, director of operational development for the initiative said, "Torex’s role is to provide the software through a managed service which will enable the shared services centres to deliver a quantum leap in the modernisation of financial services in the NHS. The development of shared services is expected to release significant resources for re-deployment into improving patient care. The contract has been awarded to Torex on the basis of value for money and their responsiveness and understanding of our needs."

Torex Health’s managing director, Steve Garrington, said the work would “open up far-reaching possibilities for new ways of managing and analysing NHS finances.”