Thames Valley ICRS Collaborative PFI Procurement Suspended
The Thames Valley Integrated Care Records Services (ICRS) collaborative procurement has become the latest high-profile NHS electronic records project to be put on hold, following a local decision to halt the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) procurement. At a meeting on 20 June the Programme Board in charge of the Thames Valley project decided to hold […]
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Granger says Failure will be Penalised
NHS IT Director General Richard Granger this week raised the ante for would-be suppliers to the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in the NHS, making clear that penalty clauses would be invoked and damages sought from suppliers that fail to deliver. Speaking at Kable’s Government Computing conference in London on 12 June, Mr Granger stressed […]
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Open Source: ‘A Frenzy of Consolidation?’
This week E-Health Insider launches a new ‘Open Source’ column for anyone interested in healthcare IT to voice their opinion. In this first article Phil Birchall, healthcare business development manager at InterSystems, comments on consolidation among healthcare IT suppliers in light of the Torex acquisition of Protos last week. As we move closer to the […]
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Final Long-List for National Programme Reached
The National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in the NHS has reached the latest milestone in the procurement process for Local Service Providers (LSPs) and National Application Service Providers (NASPs) to deliver 21st Cenury IT to the NHS with selection of a slightly shorter long-list of candidates. The new list of firms, 22 prospective LSPs and […]
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Healthcare IT and Devolution
The health services in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland were detached from the English mother ship as part of devolution. This can be seen in terms of policies: in this week’s elections for the Welsh Assembly, Labour promised free prescriptions if it regained power. But it also means that IT is procured by each nation, […]
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National Programme Names LSP and NASP Candidates
The National Programme for IT in the NHS has announced a “longlist” of 31 individual firms and consortia who have won through the first stage of tendering to be Local Service Providers (LSPs) and National Application Service Providers (NASPs) for the programme. The announcement said that 27 candidates had qualified for further consideration for the […]
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The National IT Programme: Readers Have Their Say
At HC2003 NHS IT director-general Richard Granger said that he wanted a debate about whether there were viable alternatives to the direction of travel set out by the National Programme. Though he made clear that he believed the route set out was the best way to ensure delivery, he added it was not too late […]
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National Programme ‘Mobilises’ for Delivery
The shape of things to come on NHS IT started to become clearer during the course of Healthcare Computing with a series of key announcements made on how and when the NHS IT Programme is moving from its initial ‘mobilisation phase’ to focus on delivery, and the key personnel who will be responsible. Five Local […]
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‘Trust Me’, I’m the Director-General
NHS Director-General of IT Richard Granger this week used his first major public speech to make a personal appeal to the NHS IT community, clinicians and suppliers to rally behind him and back his route map for modernising NHS IT. In a keenly anticipated announcement he told a packed audience at HC 2003 in Harrogate […]
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Bumper Response to National IT Programme OJEC
Some 99 firms have submitted responses to the Department of Health’s OJEC advertisement inviting expressions of interest from firms to act as prime contractors in delivering the National IT Programme for the NHS. The DH described the size and quality of the response as excellent, “with all of the major national and international IT companies […]
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