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- Smart Healthcare, Wednesday 16 September 2009 09.00 BST
In August, the organisation completed a two part framework agreement to supply such services, used extensively by hospital departments such as radiology and by consultants.
Six suppliers won a place on the first, involving the lots for digital dictation and speech recognition systems: BigHand, Dictate.it, G2 Speech, Softech Global, SRC and Voice Technologies. The second, for transcription services, involves Dictate.it, Dict8 and Scribetech.
Apart from Yorkshire and Humber Commercial Procurement Collaborative, the other hubs involved cover the East of England, South East Coast and the North West, as well as the Health Purchasing Consortium representing trusts in the West Midlands, Luton and London and Pro-Cure, which covers the South Central strategic health authority.
When the tender was first published in January, by Yorkshire and Humber on its own, it estimated that it might be worth £500,000 to £5m over four years, although on a framework agreement no work is guaranteed.
On the award of the deal, suppliers said that with six hubs involved the deal could be worth as much as £20m, as it covers 40% of English trusts.
The month also saw Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust award one of the framework suppliers, G2 Speech, a £234,000 contract to provide a digital dictation and voice recognition system for use by both clinical and non-clinical departments.
Health facilities were also included within a Building Schools for the Future tender published by the councils of Halton and Warrington, worth between £167m and £500m.
The main aim of this deal, which may last for as long as 15 years, is to set up a local education partnership to renovate or rebuild the area's schools. This would include the provision of ICT services, although Halton and Warrington have said that in their case the partnership may be extended to construct primary health buildings, including GP surgeries, pharmacies and polyclinics.
Telemedicine for stroke patients is the aim of a £750,000 tender published by Solent Supplies Team, on behalf of 16 hospitals in and around the South Central strategic health authority area. The hardware purchased under the resulting framework contract will allow those suffering serious strokes to have round-the-clock access to thrombolysis treatment involving clot-dissolving drugs, through remote assessment by a stroke consultant.
This equipment will include video cameras, screens, access to picture archiving and communication systems (Pacs) and mobile workstations. The three year tender will enable hospitals in the South Central area to implement the National Stroke Strategy.
Other deals saw the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in London award Philips Healthcare a £982,000, 10 year deal to provide an electronic charting and critical care monitoring system, to be used in critical care units, theatres, anaesthetics and interventional radiology, and the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust pay £321,000 to BioMerieux for a computer controlled system to automate microbiology processes.
