BT has declared its interest in taking over any of Accenture’s work under the National Programme for IT, if the consulting giant pulls out of its contracts to provide new systems to trusts in the North-east and Eastern regions.
Asked whether BT would be in the running for any contracts if Accenture decided to withdraw, Andy Green, chief executive of BT Global Services, confirmed to EHI: “If they do come, we will look upon it favourably."
The interest comes a week after Computer Sciences Corporation announced its interest in taking over the clusters.
Patrick O’Connell, head of BT’s health division said that he wanted the NHS project to be a marketing tool for the telephone company’s IT services business and “transform BT to a new breed of services company.”
BT is already the main contractor for the London region, and has had some problems with implementing systems in the capital’s trusts, especially in the acute sector.
O’Connell added: “If Connecting for Health asks us, we would look at it in a positive way.”
Green confirmed: "They (the NHS) haven’t come to us and I’m very hopeful Accenture will find a way through their problems."
Accenture’s 10 year LSP contracts are worth £934m for the East and £1.1bn for the North-east regions of the NHS in England. The company is in talks with Connecting for Health over its commitment to the programme.