NHS Hampshire has announced that it has selected Healthcare Computing for its IT managed support service.

The contract award means Healthcare Computing will provide IT support to more than 150 GP practices across Hampshire, the largest primary care trust in the country, covering more than 1.2m residents.

Andy Eyles, head of ICT for primary care for NHS Hampshire, said Healthcare Computing’s solution would be cost-effective and comprehensive.

He added: “We used the OJEU tendering process as an opportunity to seek the best suppliers in the market and to expand and improve the IT service we offer to our GP practices.

"This includes online incident logging and tracking, remote asset management, remote software deployments, proactive switch and server monitoring, all of which are new additional services.”

Healthcare Computing says it has built up a customer base over the last 12 years that covers more than 450 GP practices in Dorset, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Wiltshire and includes a managed IT support service to NHS trusts, GP practices and dental surgeries.

Mathew Trudgill, director of business development for Healthcare Computing, said: “This is a very exciting development for both us and NHS Hampshire as the deployment of Novell’s NHS GP Practice remote management solution is the first in the NHS.

"This development will take our service into a whole new direction and bring great benefits for all."