Primary care health IT and consulting firm Newchurch  has announced that it has acquired Medidesk from OnMedica, in a move that it says will enable Primary Care Organisations (PCOs) to rapidly achieve IT modernisation objectives.

Medidesk’s managed desktop and analysis tool solutions will be harnessed within Newchurch’s Integrated Primary Care EPR solution, helping PCOs to move quickly and cost-effectively to integrated primary care systems and electronic record systems.

Newchurch says the acquisition will deliver huge benefits to Medidesk’s existing customer base. By building on their existing investments in Medidesk’s managed desktop and analysis tools, PCOs will be able to seamlessly integrate Newchurch’s EPR solution.

Kingsley Manning, Chief Executive of Newchurch Limited said: "Our acquisition of Medidesk further augments our existing technology and is of major significance for all PCOs. It will enable us to help them meet government targets for modernisation and achieve true business and clinical benefits from technology quickly."

He continued: "Medidesk’s managed desktop and analysis tools will add even more functionality for our existing and future customers, in effect enabling us to become the one-stop-shop for all clinical and business information requirements in primary care."

Medidesk uses Internet technology to provide services and software applications to support primary care healthcare professionals. Its product range includes clinical audit analysis tools, together with primary care clinical software applications.

Newchurch will also integrate Medidesk’s managed desktop solution, which supports and updates the desktop automatically, from a standalone PC to an entire PCT network.

Onmedica purchased Medidesk in January 2000 in a £15.4m share for share transaction. The terms of the sale of Medidesk to Newchurch were not disclosed.

Having purchased Medidesk in January 2000 Onmedica subsequently merged the Medideskonline medical portal with UKPractice.net, another Onmedica acquisition, to form Onmedica.net  a secure medical portal for healthcare professionals with e-marketing and CRM functionality.