The MoD will award a contract to build an electronic medical record system that will be used across the whole armed services in the early part of next year, E-Health Insider has learned.
Two groups headed by IBM and Logica CMG are building separate electronic medical record systems for the Defence Medical Information Capability Programme (DMICP), which will centralise health records for all military personnel, and integrate with the NHS National Programme for IT.
A spokesperson for the MoD said: "This contract will bring real value for money as well as providing a responsive and brand new health record system for every individual in the military.
"Contract award only happens when we are content that we have the best deal available. We are looking at this to happen in the early part of 2006."
The DMICP project, which is intended to integrate with NPfIT, was set up in May 2004, and is run by the Defence Medical Services. The intention is to allow worldwide access to medical records by use of a patient ID number, as well as helping overall research into improving the fitness of the forces.
A spokesperson for the MoD said: "The Defence Medical Services have for many years used the latest technology to hold and store medical records locally and at the Central Health Records Library.
The DMICP "supports the Defence Health Plan by providing comprehensive Medical and Dental Healthcare records capability, will provide a fully electronic, integrated healthcare record for every individual Serviceman and woman and is open for use by Defence Medical Service personnel to provide healthcare in operations and in peacetime.
"The DMICP contracts will be announced next year in 2006, and is another example of the leading healthcare provision that the Defence Medical Services is providing."
The aim is to provide full capacity by 2010, with the project being implemented incrementally. There are also plans to integrate the DMICP programme with the armed services’ personnel services.