Wales announces national GP systems suppliers

NHS Wales has chosen four suppliers to provide GP clinical systems and services in the country, following completion of the Welsh GMS Systems and Services Framework Agreement.

The agreement was first announced last November and a tender was published in January.

The four suppliers chosen are EMIS, InPractice Systems, iSoft and Healthy Software.

Dr Ian Cox, programme manager for general medical services IM&T in Wales, told EHI Primary Care: “Following our procurement, we have chosen the four best suppliers who after evaluation, demonstrated to us that they could meet the requirements of Wales in terms of functionality and availability. The actual agreement is now effective, and local health boards (LHBs) can begin procurement from any time now.

“Our first task is to transfer existing practice-based support contracts over to LHB-based framework support contracts, where applicable, to deliver the benefits of the contract to the existing installed base.”

The Framework Agreement provides Wales with a new national specification for systems, ensuring that all LHBs use the same standards across the country.

Dr Cox said: “The agreement introduces one single Welsh standard in terms of functionality that all Welsh GP systems will operate on. The Welsh Minimum System Specification allows us to formally introduce this standard as a compulsory element of primary care in Wales.”

NHS Wales is now promoting the new agreement to all 22 LHBs and a dedicated the GP Clinical Systems Purchase Consortium has been set up to monitor progress.

Dr Cox added: “In parallel with running the procurement, we have also focused our efforts on managing the change within NHS Wales. Acknowledging that this is a significant change for LHBs, we made some significant organisational changes to help support and manage the process.

“Firstly we’ve established an LHB-led national group, the GP Clinical Systems Purchase Consortium, whose role involves overseeing the management and development of the framework agreement. This group has business decision-making powers and will act on behalf of the 22 LHBs to prioritise the funding of future developments within GP computing in Wales.”

A Contract Management Team has also been formed to monitor deployments of the systems and to ensure that these are performing in the way expected of them.

“Secondly our programme has secured central funding to create a dedicated Contract Management Team. This corporate resource will be provided by the NHS Wales Business Services Centre who already hold significant expertise in primary care IT and supplier engagement," said Dr Cox.

“Reporting to the GP Purchase Consortium, the team will perform a number of functions, including performance monitoring of framework suppliers, contract change control, management of a national GP Practice IT equipment asset register and facilitation of procurements including help with mini-competitions,” he added.

Under the agreement, all GP practices in Wales will be able to procure for a new clinical system that will run on Welsh national standards meeting requirements laid out in their GMS contract for the use of IM&T.

Dr Ian Millington, of the General Practitioners Committee Wales, said: “The Welsh GMS System & Framework Agreement is an important development for GMS IM&T in Wales and there has been General Practice (GP and Practice Manager) involvement at all stages in the development and procurement of the Agreement.

“Practices can now look forward to receiving system maintenance and response according to defined standards across Wales and this will ensure that GPs have timely access to IM&T in their Practice to manage their patients. The Agreement will also assist in maintaining the key role of General Practice in the development of the integrated IM&T programme for Wales.”

Dr Cox said that NHS Wales had consulted, and will continue to consult with Connecting for Health, to ensure the systems are compatible with those being offered under the GP Systems of Choice (GPSoC) procurement in England.

“Much has been gained over the last year through close collaboration with Connecting for Health’s GP Systems of Choice Programme. We will continue to work closely with the GPSoC team as we work on developing our national standards and other primary care initiatives.

“We are confident that with the contract we are putting in place, and the organisational structure to support it corporately, that NHS Wales will start to realise the benefits sooner rather than later.”

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