Central gov signs-off £32m business case

A £32m programme to provide nine southern community and child health providers with TPP’s SystmOne has been signed-off by the government.

The South Community and Child Health programme has received final approval for its business case worth £32m. The Department of Health, via NHS England, will give £20m of this to providers to cover their deployment and service charges with TPP.

TPP was announced as the successful bidder for the community and child health system tender in December.

The latest Health and Social Care Information Centre board minutes describe the sign-off as a “significant milestone”. This is the first programme to receive cross-government approval and move from approval and into delivery, since the new NHS system and HSCIC came into force on 1 April.

EHI also understands it will be the first release of central money for trusts that got nothing from NPfIT since the government formally axed the programme in September 2011.

The community and child health project is part of the Southern Local Clinical Systems programme that includes acute, ambulance and integration.

The ambulance project is out to tender while the acute business case is awaiting central sign-off and the integration case has not started the formal central approval process.

“The programme is the first of the SLCS programmes to receive approval and heralds a new approach to delivery of the local programmes with providers each holding contracts with and paying the supplier directly,” the HSCIC minutes say.

“Going forward a ‘lean’ SLCS team will work in close partnership with DH to provide oversight, and with providers in supporting them to achieve self-sufficiency in managing services and contracts where they require it.”

The tender document released last August said central government funding would cover supplier costs – hosting, deployment and licenses – for four years and each organisation could extend their contracts independently for another three years.

The nine organisations due to get SystmOne are; Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust; NHS Gloucestershire; Plymouth Community Healthcare CIC; Kent Community Health NHS Trust (child health only); Sussex Community NHS Trust; East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust; Care & Support Partnership CIC; Sirona Care & Health CIC; and Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (child health) together with community services at Peninsula Community Health CIC.

A TPP spokesperson said: “TPP are delighted that the HSCIC has provided final approval for the South Community and Child Health programme. We are looking forward to working with the trusts and CICs to begin the next phase of the project.”