Call to re-tender for Fujitsu replacement

Conservative health minister Stephen O’Brien has called for a “proper” tendering process to replace Fujitsu as local service provider in the South of England.

The call came as NHS Connecting for Health, the agency responsible for the National Programme for IT in the NHS, confirmed it was at an “advanced stage” of discussions with BT to take over the eight live Cerner sites in the South of England.

The "live eight" sites are all being supported by Fujitsu on a stop-gap support contract put in place after the company was axed as local service provider in the South last May.

This week’s Public Accounts Committee report on the national programme said that the Department of Health “considers that BT is best placed to take on the maintenance as it is also deploying Cerner’s Millennium system in London."

CfH has been locked in negotiations with BT about taking over the eight sites since last May, but an initial deal faltered on the question of price.

If a deal were agreed, BT would take over at Winchester and Eastleigh, Surrey and Sussex, Weston Area, Taunton and Somerset, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Milton Keynes, and Worthing and Southlands NHS trusts. Other NHS trusts in the South would be offered a choice between Cerner and iSoft.

However, as reported by E-Health Insider this week, one of the eight NHS sites, Worthing and Southlands Hospital NHS Trust, may be considering ditching its Cerner system, installed just 18-months ago.

A CfH spokesperson told EHI: "We can confirm that we are in an advanced stage of discussion with BT in relation to taking over the eight live trusts in the South which are currently using the Cerner Millennium solution."

O’Brien was quoted by the Evening Standard as warning that a new contract may be handed to BT without a proper tendering process and that this could end up costing the taxpayer an extra £500m.

A spokesman from CfH said: “We have adhered to the intention, outlined during the original procurement process, to transfer business between suppliers in the event of one leaving.”

In November NHS chief executive David Nicholson said the programme was at a “pivotal position” and that the DH would not tolerate continued delays. “We can’t go on and on like this," he said.

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‘Live Eight’ with Fujitsu until mid-2009