BT said to be considering iSoft bid

BT was reported at the weekend to be drawing up plans to bid for iSoft, the troubled health software company at the centre of the NHS Connecting for Health IT programme.

The Sunday Times yesterday reported that BT, which is the largest single contractor in the £12.4bn NHS IT programme, was weighing a possible bid for iSoft as a way potentially smooth the progress of the delayed IT upgrade project.

BT currently has three main contracts under the NHS IT programme. It is supplying the new national data network (N3) for the NHS, together with a national data ‘spine’ that will hold summary patient records. BT is also the local service provider (LSP) for upgrading local NHS clinical systems in the London region.

As previously reported by E-Health Insider, BT is understood to be on the verge of changing its clinical software sub-contractor in London, replacing IDX with Cerner. Sources indicate that BT has already signed a memorandum with understanding with Cerner to award it the contract for London.

Against this background a bid for iSoft would be intriguing. iSoft is currently the software contractor for two LSPs Computer Sciences Corporation and Accenture, providing IT upgrades in the North-west and West Midlands, and North-east and Eastern regions of England respectively.

BT is the largest single contractor on the NHS scheme. It is supplying a new national communications network for the NHS and a national data ‘spine’ — which will hold summary patient records. BT is also the local IT service provider for hospitals in the London region.

iSoft has big contracts with the NHS. It is the main clinical software supplier to Accenture, which is providing local IT services to hospitals in a number of different NHS regions.

Shares in iSoft have plunged almost 80% since the start of the year after three profit warnings and the announcement that the company was restating its accounts. Chief executive, Tim Whiston, stood down earlier this month.

But shares have risen over the past week based on takeover speculation. In addition to BT names linked with iSoft include private equity houses such as Permira, Carlyle and Blackstone.

Just over a week ago the National Audit Office (NAO) issued a mixed report on the programme, saying it had been a success in some areas but was two years late and in total would cost double the original £6.2bn figure.

Richard Granger, chief executive of NHS Connecting for Health, will today appear before the Commons public accounts committee to answer MPs’ questions on the NAO report.