Lincolnshire ‘steps back’ from Lorenzo

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust has decided not to take CSC’s Lorenzo electronic patient record system under a deal between the Department of Health and the company.

The agreement between CSC and the DH gives trusts in the North, Midlands and East of England funding to cover deployment and service costs of the system.

United Lincolnshire was on track to take Lorenzo as a replacement system for its Totalcare legacy PAS from McKesson, for which the support contract expires next year.

However, a spokesperson from the trust told EHI in a statement that it had now changed its mind.

“The trust has stepped back from its original strategy of deploying Lorenzo as the default EPR solution”, the spokesperson said.

“This was to allow the trust to consider a broader range of solutions on the market, including Lorenzo, and in doing so being confident about which product(s) best meet our short term functional, and longer term strategic needs.”

The trust is at the final stages of the procurement process for a new PAS and is due to make a decision shortly.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals is not the first to decide against taking Lorenzo. Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were both originally planning to take the system, but have recently made decisions not to pursue the offer from the DH.

Eight trusts have so far chosen to take Lorenzo under the DH and CSC deal.

Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and The George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust have had business cases approved by the NME Programme Board to take Lorenzo.

South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust, Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust have also confirmed their intention to take the system.