Advanced, Emis and Northgate in deals

Advanced Business Solutions has signed a deal with Kronos to provide its workforce management software to NHS trusts.

Advanced says it will become the first company in the UK to resell Kronos OptiLink, which can be used for staff management, scheduling, and reporting.

The move is a sign of change in the staff management software market, triggered by the end of the original NHS Electronic Staff Record contract, and renewed interest in optimal ward staffing to meet safety and efficiency targets.

Kronos says that OptiLink uses real-time data on admissions, discharges, and transfers to provide a picture of patient population and staffing from the ward level through the entire system.

In principle, this enables hospitals to manage staff levels effectively based on the intensity of patient care needed.

Dean Dickinson, managing director of Advanced Business Solutions, said the partnership will allow the company to help NHS trusts address the pressure they are under to ensure safe staffing levels.

Tristan Spencer, UK sales director for Kronos, said OptiLink is “a well-established solution that will help NHS trusts to transform care delivery” and provide evidence of safe staffing to the Department of Health.

Spencer said the solution has already helped US healthcare organisations to improve patient care, control labour costs and improve productivity.

“We are very confident that by extending our reach with Advanced we can help even more NHS trusts meet their safe staffing targets in the UK."

In other deals and acquisitions announced over the New Year period, the Emis Group acquired Medical Imaging, the leading provider of diabetic eye screening and ophthalmology imaging services to NHS England, for £6.5 million.

Chris Spencer, the chief executive of Emis Group, said the acquisition “enhances our already strong position in diabetic eye screening”, with Medical Imaging providing screening services to more than 500,000 patients across 12 diabetic eye screening programmes.

Software and outsourcing business Northgate Public Services, which offers a range of healthcare information solutions, also announced that it has been acquired by European private equity firm Cinven.

David Meaden, chief executive of Northgate Public Services, said: “Working with Cinven will further fuel our ambition to innovate and grow and is a huge vote of confidence in the strength of our business and our people.”