Scotland’s main GP software supplier goes into administration

The main GP software supplier for Scotland, In Practice Systems Limited (INPS), has voluntarily placed itself under administration owing to financial difficulties.

A press release, published by Cegedim on 10 December 2024, said: “Cegedim SA announces that its British subsidiary INPS, a software publisher for general practitioners, has decided to voluntarily place itself under administration with effect from December 10, 2024, in view of its financial difficulties.”

The news comes as Scotland was in the process of migrating all of its GP clinical systems from EMIS to the Vision software provided by INPS, as part of the GP IT reprovisioning programme.

A spokesperson for the Scottish government told Digital Health News: “We have instructed National Services Scotland (NSS) to urgently consider immediate steps to be taken regarding support required for current users of Vision, the rollout of the new GP IT system and work with the administrators to understand the implications and opportunities going forward.”

They added that there is “currently no impact on patient care or current availability of systems for GPs”.

Steven Flockhart, director of digital and security at NHS NSS, said: “We were recently advised by Cegedim about their intentions to instruct administrators in relation to their UK business In Practice Systems Limited (INPS).

“Administrators have now been appointed. We’re working closely with health boards and the Scottish government to rapidly assess the situation.

“Pre-existing contractual agreements are in place to ensure immediate service provision and to support services until a new solution or supplier is secured.

“We recognise this has occurred at a time of ongoing winter pressures and want to reassure board practitioners and patients that there is currently no risk to services following this week’s development.”

A statement, published on 12 December 2024, from Dr Chris Williams, deputy chair at the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Scotland, said: “We were informed on Wednesday morning that ‘In Practice Systems Limited (INPS)’, a major provider of IT software for Scottish general practices, voluntarily entered administration the previous day.

“RCGP Scotland was briefed about this within hours of the company’s announcement and is closely monitoring this developing situation, and it is our understanding that contractual agreements mean that there is no immediate threat to service provision.

“Our thoughts are also with the company’s staff who have been dedicated to building a modern GP IT system for Scotland and who will also be troubled by the uncertainty.

“Scotland has learned from previous major IT incidents. We are glad that NSS immediately stood up an incident management team to handle this situation and I am engaged with the team as part of the clinical workstream group.”

Cegedim is one of four pharmacy IT suppliers working with NHS England on the pilot of a feature which allows patients to trace the status and readiness of their prescriptions via the NHS App.

It is also one of eight suppliers working with Digital Health and Care Wales to support the roll out of the electronic prescribing service in Wales.