Hampshire PCT has outsourced its IT support for all GP practices in the county to health IT specialists Healthcare Computing.
The company will now provide support to more than 180 sites across the PCT which is the largest primary care trust in the UK covering more than 700,000 patients. The PCT was already using Healthcare Computing for IT support in some areas but had previously used an in-house NHS IT team to provide IT support for practices in the eastern parts of the county.
Fiona Maton, head of ICT Care Services for the PCT, said Healthcare Computing provided a cost-effective and comprehensive solution to primary care IT support.
She added: “The previous suppliers provided a very good service but this deliberate move to one external supplier allows us to consolidate and standardise the service, achieve real cost savings for the trust and enables us to efficiently manage big projects like the GPSoC [GP systems of Choice] infrastructure improvements.”
Healthcare Computing says it has built a customer base over the last ten years covering large areas of Dorset, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Wiltshire and says it provides a managed IT support service to NHS trusts, GP practices and dental surgeries.
Peter Mann, Healthcare Computing’s managing director, said: “We are delighted to have secured Hampshire PCT business. They are an extremely important customer and are in many ways leading the way in which GP IT will be managed in the future.”