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It has confirmed that a £36m, four year contract signed with McKesson would cover some trusts in the North, Midlands and East of England (NME) area, which have been previously committed to take iSoft's Lorenzo suite.
In response to a Freedom of Information request from SmartHealthcare.com, the DoH said that of the 26 trusts retaining McKesson's Totalcare system under the deal, 18 are in the NME area. This is served by NHS Connecting for Health's local service provider CSC, which had planned to provide only iSoft's Lorenzo software suite to trusts.
The 18 NME trusts comprise that are 13 foundations, which have greater power over what software they use, and five that would not have the autonomy to choose their own systems.
Of the other trusts covered, six are in London, while two are in the south of England. The government had already announced that some trusts in these areas would use alternative systems, but had not done so for the NME region.
The department announced the deal with McKesson on 14 April 2010, but did not initially release the regions or names of the trusts.
CSC responded with a statement suggesting that it still views Lorenzo as the long term solution. A company spokesperson commented: "The McKesson contract extension is intended to provide support to trusts with existing McKesson systems for up to four years. CSC remains confident that trusts will continue to view Lorenzo Regional Care as the best long term solution."
Kable's senior health analyst Victor Almeida said the move represented a recognition that the NME region's trusts need more choice of suppliers. "Lorenzo – iSoft's software suite – is the only Care Records Service package offered to these trusts and it allows for limited retrospective compatibility. This means that health organisations may find it difficult to reconcile the NPfIT package with their existing systems and end up having to 'rip and replace' some of them.
"Increased supplier choice is an inevitable step in the right direction, which many - including Kable - have been anticipating for some time. McKesson is a very strong player in the health industry, with experience implementing electronic health record in the USA and the Electronic Staff Service to the NHS in England," he added.
"Other vendors will probably follow suit - and this will not be confined to large American players like McKesson and CSC. Smaller local vendors like Agilisys, Amicus ITS and Synetrix will also play a role in the roll out of patient administration systems, care record services and various other software applications, which are crucial to the modernisation of the NHS."
The 26 trusts covered will all retain McKesson's Totalcare software. The NME non-foundation trusts covered are United Lincolnshire Hospitals, Nottingham University Hospitals, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Southport and Ormskirk Hospitals and Walsall Hospitals.
The NME foundation trusts covered by the deal are Derby Hospitals, Chesterfield Royal Hospitals, Sherwood Forest Hospitals, Colchester Hospital University, Southend University Hospital, Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals, Northumbria Healthcare, Rotherham, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Barnsley Hospital, Sheffield Children's and Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals.
The London users of Totalcare covered by the deal are North Middlesex University Hospital, Whipps Cross University Hospital, Whittington Hospital, Barking Havering and Redbridge Hospitals, Ealing Hospital and South London Healthcare. The deal also covers Royal Berkshire and Battle Hospitals and Medway Foundation in the south.
The department also said that three of the trusts will also continue to use McKesson's Star software: South London Healthcare, Royal Berkshire and Battle Hospitals and Walsall Hospitals.
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