Massive health IT framework coming soon

A massive new framework tender for electronic patient records, hosting, portals, mobile working and many other digital solutions will be published at the end of this month.

Potentially worth hundreds of millions of pounds, the tender for a new Clinical Digital Information Systems Framework is a refresh of the framework contract created by the ‘2015 consortium’ of 38 community and mental health trusts in London and the South that needed to buy new systems and support before the end of their national contracts last October.

The new framework will be available to acute trusts, GPs, clinical commissioning groups, social care bodies in local government, charitable organisations and private sector healthcare providers.

It will also be available to trusts in the North, Midlands and East. Some in the region already used the former framework to procure systems before the end of their national contracts this July.

NHS London Procurement Partnership said the framework will be published at the end of February at the request of the London NHS chief information officers’ council, and the ‘2015 Consortium’.

Due to go-live in August, it will be split into four lots. Lot 1 will be for electronic patient records, lot 2 for hosting, and lot 3 for interoperability and interfacing, clinical and patient portals, informatics and reporting, electronic document management and multi-functional devices.

The fourth lot will be for ‘specialised digital solutions and professional services’, which covers; mobile working, bring your own device, telehealth, medication management, patient support solutions, patient workflow and tracking, innovation and professional services.

A statement from the LPP says the new framework will: “Combine the benefits of an EPR system with the integration and interoperable digital tools which will give care professionals and carers access to all the data, information and knowledge they need, where and when they need it.

“This will be real-time digital information on an individual’s health and care, made available by 2020 to all NHS-funded services. It will also provide comprehensive data on the outcomes and value of services provided, which in turn will support improvement and sustainability.”

The ‘2015 Consortium’ framework has a contracted value of more than £100 million. By working together, trusts were able to save £80m on the previous contract cost of their systems. The CDIS framework is likely to have higher value due to its wider applicability and extended scope.