Choose and Book work agreed with McKesson

Health IT specialist, McKesson has signed a framework agreement with NHS Connecting for Health for upgrade work to enable trusts using the firm’s TotalCARE patient administration system to implement Choose and Book.

The system is used by 22 acute hospital trusts five of which have already been converted and are using TotalCARE to accept bookings. These include the North Middlesex and Whittington in London and Barnsley, Yorkshire.

Under the new agreement, McKesson will upgrade systems to make Choose and Book available to an additional 17 trusts, including United Lincolnshire, Sheffield Teaching, Basildon & Thurrockin Essex, and Ealing, West London.

The work is due to take place over the course of the next six months as the NHS in England works towards deadlines in October and December 2005 for Choose and Book implementation.

McKesson’s TotalCARE PAS is regarded as an ‘existing system’ under the Connecting for Health initiative, but it has been made compliant with the new NHS standards, and now interacts with the Choose and Book electronic booking system and the NHS Care Records Service (NHS CRS).

Elsewhere in the NHS, McKesson is the prime contractor for the NHS Wide Clearing Service and for the NHS Electronic Staff Record.

Neil Spragg, business development director of McKesson UK commented: “We are very proud to be a part of these early successes.”