ISoft 7 to extend contracts

All seven of the “out of cluster” trusts in London and the South of England that installed iSoft systems ahead of the National Programme for IT in the NHS are due to sign a new deal for iSoft systems.

In 2006, CSC and iSoft signed a deal that gave them responsibility for the seven trusts and enabled them stay with their existing systems instead of moving to Cerner Millennium, the strategic electronic patient record for London and the South.

The original contract with iSoft is due to expire at the end of the financial year and negotiations for the new contract are coming to a head. E-Health Insider understands that a deal is likely to be signed at the end of April.

The trusts that are due to resign are: Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust, Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust.

Colin Sweeney, director of IT at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, told EHI: “At present, the iSoft7 are planning to carry on running their iSoft systems for the foreseeable future.

“From our point of view, the clinical functionality that has been offered by Cerner does not match up to what we have already got and we are concerned about the PAS functionality that has caused issues at other trusts.

“Lorenzo still has not been deployed in a comparable sized trust, so although there is likely to be a point where we will want to move to another system, now is not that time.”

EHI understands that the trusts will sign the deal collectively; however some trusts may sign separate, individual contracts for iCM, which provides clinical functionality.

It is unclear how the new contracts will be funded but the majority of the trusts believe that they will not have to foot the bill. One trust said that there is a possibility that items will be taken out of the original contract in return for extending its length.

However, Peter Gill, director of information services at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The expectation is that it will be partly funded centrally and partly trust funded.

"It is expected that the overall financial envelope that London has will be partly used to support the iSoft5 in London."

ISoft was unable to comment as the contracts are still under negotiation.