Scotland establishes national GP systems deal

NHS Scotland is setting up a framework contract for the country's GP systems and has awarded a contract to control data transfers

The framework contract for general medical practice IT systems published by NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) was the largest value tender notice published in July. NSS plans to set up a four year deal, worth £10m to £50m with up to three suppliers, for GP practices in Scotland and for other organisations which provide primary care, such as out of hours services, prisons and hospitals.

The suppliers chosen will have to meet various standards, and "provide options for data migration, extended community functionality and interoperability interfaces to secondary care and Local Authority partners," according to the notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

NSS also awarded a large deal in July, to Lumension for use of its Device Control product, which controls the electronic transfer of data between media. "Essentially, we needed a solution that would prevent anyone from storing patient data or any other health board information, onto a CD, DVD, USB stick or laptop, without having express permission to do so," said NSS's Mark Salveta. "Where this method of data transfer was sanctioned, we needed to know that the information was encrypted."

The system is already in use at NHS Lothian and NHS Grampian. The purchase draws on £1m provided by the Scottish Government to its health boards to improve information security, following serious breaches of patient records last year.

England saw few large tenders or contracts focused on IT during July, but it did see some unusual ones. University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust published a tender for a 3D virtual reality system, to help patients, visitors and staff find their way around the trust's new hospital. In the case of patients and visitors, the £300,000 system will combine with the self-service check in system to show people the most direct route to their destination within the hospital, using video quality animation.

The same system will be used to help employees find their way around the new hospital before it opens. "Staff would know where they need to go and they will also be in a position to guide patients and visitors to their respective locations from the very first day of the new hospital," says the tender notice. It will also be used for specific training for events including fire drills, major incidents and for the hospital's cardiac team. The system will be available through web browsers, DVDs, handheld devices and touch screens.

The NHS Information Centre awarded contracts to IMS Health, for £155,000, and to CSD Epic, for £75,000, to establish a longitudinal database of pseudo anonymised patient information from a representative sample of GP surgeries in England. It also awarded £2.9m in framework contracts for marketing and communications services, including Eduserv, Precedent Communications, NetConstruct, Parallel Interactive Media and Rippleffect Studio for website infrastructure and design.

More conventionally, Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust awarded Voyager Networks a £960,000 contract to maintain its IT, including desktops, servers and networks.

Information is drawn from notices published in the Official Journal of the European Union. These, along with a monthly analysis of ICT tenders in all government sectors, are available to customers of KableDIRECT.