Legacy McKesson trusts pick and choose

Eight of the 26 English trusts running McKesson’s legacy Totalcare and Star patient administration systems have chosen to migrate to System C’s Medway PAS.

Many of the trusts have been running the legacy systems since the early 1990s, but their current support contract runs out in March next year.

Eight have decided to implement the Medway PAS from System C, now a McKesson company, with some also planning to implement parts of the electronic patient record system.

Four trusts have chosen to deploy Cerner’s Millennium EPR, two have chosen to take CSC’s Lorenzo, and two have taken the Silverlink PAS. Cambio, FileTek and Oasis have also won one trust each.

The support contract for the legacy McKesson systems was signed in 2006. It enabled the enabled 26 trusts in England, 18 of which are in the North, Midlands and East, to keep or deploy their PAS systems until NPfIT systems became available.

In 2010, as delays to NPfIT mounted, NHS Connecting for Health extended the contract until March 2014.

Some of the 26 trusts have already implemented replacement systems, but as the end of the contract moves closer, there has been another influx of trusts going out to procurement.

Moving to the Medway system has proved the most popular option. The first of the Totalcare sites to go live with Medway was Whittington Health in London. It deployed the maternity module in May and plans to go-live with the full PAS over the summer.

Colchester University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust; Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust; Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust have also signed contracts for the system.

Gary Davies, sales director for System C, a McKesson company told EHI that it had been very successful in winning contracts from legacy sites through open procurement.

“It has been developed with our NHS partners over a sustained period to ensure that it is both reliable and flexible,” he said.

The second most popular alternative is Cerner Millennium, with four trusts signed up.

In London, Whipps Cross University Hospital, which became part of Barts Health NHS Trust in April 2012, is on track to implement the system.

South London Healthcare NHS Trust, which is due to be dissolved later this year, will also continue with its implementation of Millennium.

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust and and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have also taken the Cerner EPR.

Notably, just two legacy sites – Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – have chosen to implement Lorenzo from CSC, which was initally contracted to deploy the system across the NME.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust was on track to take Lorenzo, but has “stepped back” from the deal and is in the final stages of a procurement process.

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation trust is due to implement the Silverlink PAS and Ealing Hospital NHS Trust will also take Silverlink when it merges with North West London Hospitals NHS Trust.

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust will become the first in the country to take a PAS from Swedish company Cambio, while Medway NHS Foundation Trust has picked Oasis as preferred supplier for its PAS.

The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust chose to implement Meditech v6.0, but has had high-profile problems with the system and is now deploying TPP’s SystmOne in A&E.

Some of the trusts might be leaving their decision a little late. Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will decide “sometime this year."

Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust hopes to make a decision this summer and Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is “still considering what type of IT solution best fits the trust”.

In May, McKesson has announced its intention to sell McKesson UK, including subsidiary System C.