County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has gone out to tender for a care records system and e-prescribing functionality.
The trust has placed a tender notice in the Official Journal of the European Union for an “integrated care record system capable of interfacing with the contracting authorities’ ICT products and systems, in a series of phases.”
The tender says the trust envisages that the first phase will include the implementation of order communications, results reporting, and documentation to support discharge, incorporating to take out medicines.
It says that a second phase will incorporate electronic drug management, including e-prescribing and drug administration for patient care.
The trust currently runs Ascribe’s patient administration system and iSoft iCM for clinical functionality. It would be due to take iSoft’s strategic electronic patient record Lorenzo under the National Programme for IT in the NHS.
However, the trust is instead looking at the possibility of awarding a seven year contract with the option to extend for a further three years to a supplier outside the NPfIT.
A spokesperson for the trust told E-Health Insider: “The trust has been working closely with the national programme for several years.
"Following detailed investigation based upon its current requirements, it determined that the Lorenzo solution may not be capable of meeting its needs within its required timescale.
“It therefore decided to explore the market for options, we are however continuing to monitor the capabilities of the Lorenzo solution and will consider it again in the full business case.”
The trust is inviting a minimum of three and maximum of seven to participate in the tender as it says that it is currently at the stage of invitation to participate in dialogue.
The spokesperson added: “Currently the award is estimated as March subject to several milestone checkpoints, the next one being November. The trust is exploring several options for timescales.”