iSoft has signed a new £5m deal to become a strategic health information technology partner of the private healthcare firm, General Healthcare Group (GHG).
The six-year deal will see GHG license and implement iSoft’s patient management (iPM) systems at its 47 BMI Healthcare private acute care hospitals and its Netcare centres.
Additional services will be provided over the duration of the agreement for development, implementation and deployment services.
Paul Richards, managing director of iSoft UK and Ireland, told E-Health Insider: “GHG have ambitious plans to grow their business and modernise it over the same period. By upgrading their existing systems to the iPM solution we are helping to bring noticeable benefits to both patients and staff.
“The group has ambitious plans to roll these systems out quickly and we are confident that we can achieve full rollout across the group within the next 18 months, creating a group where records are stored centrally and can be accessed from any GHG site.”
GHG has also appointed iSoft as its preferred supplier for clinical IT systems, to include order communications and results reporting as well as other systems.
iSoft say they will be working closely with GHG as a partner to ensure fast-track deployment of these critical business solutions.
Gary Cohen, executive chairman and CEO of IBA, iSoft’s parent company, added: “GHG will benefit from the expertise and experience we are providing them with our iPM products as well as any other systems they agree to deploy. As a leading private firm in the UK, they are looking to be able to match the IT used in the NHS and we believe we are perfectly positioned to enable this for them.”
Once iPM is in place across the network, GHG will benefit from integrated patient management, billing and back-office functionality within a single suite of software.
Adrian Fawcett, CEO of GHG, said: “We at General Healthcare Group are fully committed to delivering best quality, best practice and best outcomes in everything that we do. The investment in new patient management systems demonstrates our commitment to continuous innovation and excellence as the UK leader in independent healthcare.”
Graham Knight, CIO of GHG, told EHI: “The platform will offer GHG more support for its integrated technologies to further support our consultants and improve the patient journey. Also the additional functionality supplied around theatre scheduling and pharmacy will continue to drive efficiency, freeing more time for patient care. There is also tighter integration for support for FCN [Free Choice Network] and patient scheduling. The installations have been piloted already, and we will be looking to implement the platform in phases over the coming months to both upgrade existing and implement new functionality.
“GHG and iSoft meet regularly to look at new opportunities, and as such we will continue to review development and where they are appropriate in the private sector look to implement new systems which will improve our offering to consultants and patients. Hospitals systems are already integrated across the group. The new software continues this approach focusing on providing the best possible support for consultants, patients and staff at our hospitals utilising integrated systems and business processes.”
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