Eclipsys to target “lost” NHS trusts

US clinical information systems provider, Eclipsys, has said that it will bring the latest version of its Sunrise Clinical Manager product to the UK and target trusts that are being left behind or opting out of the National Programme for IT in the NHS.

The US company, which provides an integrated clinical platform including electronic patient records and order communication solutions, told E-Health Insider that it will enter the UK market by approaching trusts across the country that are “lost and searching for another option.”

In 2002 iSoft, one of the key software providers for NPfIT bought Eclipsys UK and Asia Pacific operations, which was then followed by the announcement of a global development partnership in 2003.

An earlier version of Sunrise Clinical Manager, provided the code base for iSoft’s iCM product, still widely used within the NHS.

However, a seven year “no compete contract” with iSoft, which gave the company the reseller rights for Sunrise Clinical Manager in the international markets outside the US, has now expired and Eclipsys is now able to market its Sunrise products itself internationally again.

Stuart Miller, Eclipsys’ regional vice president of UK and Ireland, told EHI: “In 2008 we looked into NPfIT and realised that there was no a place for us and we had already missed the boat for ASCC, so we felt that the market was locked.

“The thing that tipped us over the edge was when the Conservatives brought out the independent review [on the National Programme for IT], so I made a push in the summer to say that if the Tories had a 42% lead, which they did at the time, then the time is right for us.”

In March, EHI revealed that far fewer trusts in London will be receiving Cerner Millennium as a result of the new BT LSP contract. In addition, trusts in the North West are now being given the choice to opt out of Lorenzo without facing previously imposed penalties.

Miller added: “These trusts will be doing different things, some trying to glue stuff together, some taking NPfIT products and other being more strategic in terms of an enterprise clinical suite, it’s those trusts that are feeling lost without the programme that we can provide a real working solution to.”

He added: “If you take the concept of the bus, there are more people at the bus stop than on the bus. A lot of those people standing at the bus stop are there because they’re waiting to see whether the bus ride is free or whether the Tories many pay for a taxi to pick them up.”

In February Eclipsys announced a strategic alliance with Microsoft to integrate Microsoft’s Amalga platform into its clinical software products, including Sunrise Clinical Manager.

The deal, which was aimed at the US market, has potential relevance in the UK, where Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has already signed a deal for Amalga.

At the time, Peter Neupert, corporate vice president, Microsoft Health Solutions Group, said: Eclipsys and Microsoft offer complementary strengths to healthcare enterprises looking to overcome the restraints caused by legacy health IT applications that block the strategic exchange and use of digital health data.”